For the second straight season, Creek Wood hosted a girls’ sub-state game, and for the second straight season, they find themselves heading to Murfreesboro.
A dominant 59-36 win over Hardin County on Saturday night told us a lot about where this team is.
Everyone has a bad game on their way to state.
It is just a matter of finding a way to win it, and how you respond.
As we talk about in our last article, Maplewood was that game.
The Lady Red Hawks responded well with a bounce-back game over Murfreesboro Central Magnet.
The question then was, which of those two region games was the outlier.
In a best-case scenario, it in fact was Maplewood.
Saturday night Creek Wood came out and in a win-or-go-home situation, almost outdid themselves and the way they performed against Central Magnet.
The Lady Red Hawks led 34-22 at the half after a strong second-quarter including a buzzer-beating three from Abby Owen.
After that, already with a commanding lead, Creek Wood cranked it up further.
They would come out and outscore Hardin County seventeen to two in the third quarter, and twenty-five to fourteen overall in the second half.
Brianna Burgess did her part, as always, with twenty-one points.
Solid Contributions from both Laura Nichols with nine and Alessia Nesbitt with eight as well.
It was Bryanna Moore, however, who really shined on Saturday night.
Moore has never been the scorer for this team.
We have pointed out multiple times she has the ability, but it is not her primary role.
Well, it was on Saturday.
It started with six points in the first quarter, all on mid-range jumpers.
She would have two more in the second and end the half with ten points.
For some reason, Hardin County, and specifically Haley Hallett, would not guard Moore on the fifteen to eighteen-footer.
That was a mistake.
In the second half, Hardin County guarded Moore just a little tighter, and while she still found a few more open jumpers, she opened up the floor for threes from Burgess and Nichols, as well as lanes to the bucket for Burgess, Nichols, Nesbitt, and Owen.
If Moore can repeat even a little of her success from the mid-range, it will go a long way in the state tourney for Creek Wood.
The more wide-open the floor is offensively, the more this team thrives.
The first match-up comes on Wednesday at 11:30 am facing off against a 23-6 Fayette-Ware team.
We will see if this year, Creek Wood avoids that dreaded first-round loss.
