Bradley Central suffered its first loss of the campaign Wednesday night as Larry Ryle High of Union, Ky. posted an exciting 57-52 win in quarterfinal action of the Ladies’ Classic.
The Bears of Bradley led 27-24 at halftime, but Ryle controlled the third period and jumped into the lead, holding a 39-35 lead heading down the home stretch.
Ryle, with no less than three players with Division 1 college scholarship offers, pulled ahead by a 52-44 lead with less than three minutes left in the contest, but the Bears charged back, thanks to a press that forced Ryle into three turnovers on the inbounds pass. A 3-pointer by Hannah Jones with 33 seconds left closed the gap to 52-51, then a free throw by Sloan Carpenter tied the score a second later.
Ryle answered in a big way when Austin Johnson broke free on a runout on the inbounds play and raced down for a layup and was fouled. Her free throw made it 55-52 with 26 seconds to go, and Bradley couldn’t make a three to tie.
Abby Holtman scored 16 points, while Quinn Eubank and Austin Johnson each had 11. Sarah Baker chipped in with 10. Ryle shot 59 percent from the field, including 5-of-9 on threes.
Bradley Central (11-1) was led by Hannah Jones with 18 and Sloan Carpenter added 10.
BRADLEY CENTRAL (52): Crittenden 1-6 0-0 2, Sloan Carpenter 5-13 0-0 10, Weber 3-7 0-0 9, Ware 3-6 1-2 8, Ledford 0-2 0-0 0, Hannah Jones 8-13 1-2 18, Swick 2-2 0-0 5. TOTALS: 22-49 2-4 52.
RYLE (57): Quinn Eubank 3-6 4-4 11, Nguyen 0-0 0-0 0, Abby Holtman 5-11 3-3 16, Austin Johnson 4-5 3-3 11, Snider 1-3 4-4 7, Carrigan 1-1 0-0 2, Sarah Baker 5-6 0-2 10. TOTALS: 19-32 14-16 57.
3-Point Goals: BC—6 (Weber 3, Ware, Jones, Swick). RHS—5 (Holtman 3, Eubank, Snider).
BRADLEY CENTRAL 12 15 8 17—52
LARRY RYLE 14 10 15 18—57
