Bearden and Maryville battled for four quarters but needed overtime to settle matters Tuesday night. The host Lady Bulldogs knocked off district-leading Maryville 37-36 in overtime. (Photo: Danny Parker).
By Mike Blackerby
There were two significant takeaways from Bearden’s 37-36 overtime win over Maryville’s girls in a Tuesday District 4-AAA showdown marked by great defense, lousy shooting and turnovers aplenty on both sides.
The victory puts the Lady Bulldogs (24-2, 13-2 District 4-AAA) in the driver’s seat in the chase for the No. 1 seed in the upcoming district tournament. Bearden ran its winning streak to 15 games.
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As bad as the visiting Lady Rebels (25-2, 13-2) played, Maryville still had a chance to win at the buzzer, but a spinning 3-pointer by Courtney Caruthers was off the mark.
Bearden entered the game as the state’s No. 6-ranked Class AAA team while Maryville was No. 2.
Both teams have one more regular season district game to play Friday: Bearden is at Farragut and Maryville hosts Hardin Valley.
If both win and finish the season at 14-2 in district play they will be co-champions, but Bearden will earn the No. 1 seed in the district tournament by virtue of owning the tiebreaker.
Lady Bulldogs coach Justin Underwood said it was a classic survival game when neither team was having much success on offense.
“Good defense made everything difficult,” said Underwood, whose team is going for an unheard of fifth consecutive regular season district title.
“Our kids never gave up and were able to make the stop at the end. We had a slow start, but when you’re not scoring you’ve got to be able to defend. That has always been our motto.”
Lady Rebels coach Scott West said it was amazing his team still had a chance at the end considering how it played.
Maryville shot 3-for-11 (27.3 percent) from the line, 14-for-41 (34.1 percent) and coughed up 17 turnovers.
“We were terrible,” said West.
“Defensively we were pretty good, but offensively we had no identity and got what we deserved,” he continued.
“The good thing we can take from it was we played about as bad as we can on the road against a team inspired to beat you and we lose by one in overtime. Hopefully, we’ll learn from it.”
Bearden’s totals were likewise offensively challenged.
The Lady Bulldogs made 29.3 percent (12 of 41) of their field goals and 46.4 percent (13 of 28) of their free throws.
Sophomore guard Zneyah McLaughlin scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds for Bearden.
Tytiaira Spikes added nine points and six rebounds while Jakhyia Davis netted eight points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Sophomore wing Denae Fritz topped Maryville with 12 points. Lindsey Taylor had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Carruthers also had 10 points for the Lady Rebels.
Maryville hit 5 of its first 7 field goals and raced to a 12-4 lead after one quarter.
Bearden took a two-point lead at the half and the game was close the rest of the way.
Shekinah McLaughlin had a chance to win it in regulation for Bearden, but her shot in the lane with four seconds to play was no good, sending the game into overtime at 31-31.
Zneyah McLaughlin drove the lane for a bucket, was fouled and converted the 3-point play with 3:14 to play in overtime to give the Lady Bulldogs the lead for good.
“I saw an open lane, took it and saw Lindsey (Taylor) reach for the ball,” said McLaughlin.
“I just thought, ‘I’ve got to finish.’”
Maryville still had a chance when Fritz connected on a triple with 36 seconds to play to cut Bearden’s lead to 37-36.
The Lady Rebels came up with a steal on the inbounds play and held the ball for the final shot after calling timeout with 13 seconds to play.
But Maryville had trouble finding a crack in Bearden’s defense and Carruthers was forced to throw up a difficult 3-point shot at the buzzer.
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