Bearden was knocked into the loser’s bracket in the first round of the Classic, but they proved to the Hal Henard crowd Thursday that they are definitely one of the class teams in Tennessee after moving past Greeneville 70-35.
After a relatively slow start, leading 20-14 after one quarter, the Bulldogs caught fire in the second period and outscored the host Lady Devils 20-5 to jump into a commanding 40-19 lead by intermission. The lead continued to swell in the third quarter. It was a poor shooting night for the Devils,, who hit only 8-of-42 field goals for less than 20 percent.
Natalya Hodge turned in one of the top performances of the tourney with 29 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and seven steals for Bearden. Aisha Patel scored 11 while Rachel Wilhoit and Kendall Anne Murphy each contributed 10 points.
The Lady Devils got 19 points from freshman Maria Lydia and 12 from Kyla Jobe.
BEARDEN (70): Natalya Hodge 12-25 3-5 29, Rachel Wilhoit 5-7 0-0 10, Kendall Anne Murphy 3-6 4-4 10, McVeigh 0-1 0-0 0, Wilson 2-4 0-0 4, Hunt 0-1 0-0 0, Cox 3-6 0-0 6,Aisha Patel 3-5 2-2 11, Mills 0-1 0-0 0, Foster 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 28-57 9-11 70.
GREENEVILLE (35): Gray 0-1 0-0 0, Swatzell 0-6 2-2 2, Stewart 0-0 0-0 0, Carpenter 0-1 0-0 0, Kyla Jobe 5-20 1-1 12, Shaw 0-2 0-0 0, Maria Lydia 2-7 15-19 19, Harmon 1-2 0-0 2, Adkins 0-3 0-0 0. TOTALS: 8-42 18-22 35.
3-Point Goals: KB—5 (Patel 3, Hodge 2). GHS—1 (Jobe).
| Scores by Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bearden | 20 | 20 | 14 | 16 – 70 |
| Greeneville | 14 | 5 | 8 | 8 – 35 |
