Pair of perfect Bearden hoops records to begin the week: Girls
Lady Bulldogs 48 | Morristown West 36
BEARDEN — It was one scoring streak after another Friday, Dec. 1, when Morristown West’s girls basketball team visited Bearden High School.
Fortunately for the Lady Bulldogs, most of the streaks went their way. The result was a 48-36 win that improved their record to a perfect 5-0.
“Streaky game,” BHS head coach Justin Underwood said. “That’s a good team. We still have some stuff to work on. We’ve got great kids and they work hard.”
With 2:25 left in the first period, Bearden led 6-0 and Morristown West had hardly gotten off a shot. The Lady Trojans finally got a pair of free throws and a lay-up and trailed 8-4 after one.
Aubrie Messer’s floater with 3:50 left in the half brought West to within one, 12-11. But BHS finished the half on a 9-2 run and led 21-13.
Five straight by the Lady Trojans to open the second half cut Bearden’s lead to three, 21-18. But the Lady Bulldogs then outscored West 14-2 over the next four minutes to make it 35-20 with 1:52 left in the third.
Six in a row by West followed by five straight from BHS made it 40-26 after three.
“The third quarter was big for us,” Underwood said. “We hit some threes and got going on offense.”
Sophomore point guard Natalya Hodge hit three treys in the third period, and junior shooting guard Kendall Anne Murphy nailed one.
Bearden’s end-of-third scoring run continued into the fourth with five more points -— all by Hodge — on a lay-up and another three. The score was now 45-26 with 6:15 left.
Down 48-28 with 2:44 remaining, the Lady Trojans managed to score the final eight to make the game seem closer than it was.
Hodge led all scorers with 18, 15 in the second half. Murphy scored 12. Messer led Morristown West with 15 while Jhaniya Mitchell added 11.
“We definitely started out a little bit rough,” Murphy. said. “Throughout the game we came together as a team and started playing a lot better. Our D was really good the whole time.”
“We had some decent looks we ordinarily hit, and we missed some free throws,” Underwood said. “Early season, still getting into a rhythm.”
