Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis
The Clay County Lady Bulldogs closed the regular season in dominant fashion with their 70-45 win over Harriman on Saturday.
The game got out of hand just a quarter in, as the Lady Bulldogs blazed their way to a 28-8 advantage heading into the second quarter. Head coach Matthew Walker got to put some subs in early and give his starters a break there, as Clay County held a 44-18 lead at the break.
None of the Lady Bulldog starters saw any minutes in the second half, even as Harriman cut the lead down to under 20 at one point. Though the Lady Devils held a 27-26 advantage in the final two quarters, it wasn’t enough as Clay ended the regular season in dominant fashion 70-45.
The win pushes the Lady Bulldogs record to 20-4 overall with a 7-1 mark in district play.
Briley Burchett led the way in limited minutes with 16 points, while Abby Head added 13 points.
“I think most importantly, we got out of here healthy,” Walker said. “That’s probably the most important thing going into tournament time…with our schedule, we’ve had a lot games in the last two weeks, so the starters got some much-needed rest.”
Clay County finishes with the number-one seed on the girls side of the bracket, though Walker is quick to point out nothing is guaranteed beyond this point.
“I feel like anybody’s got a chance to win it,” Walker said. “It’s just a matter of getting hot at the right time.”
The Bulldogs dominated their matchup with Harriman as well, winning 84-40 to close the season.
Clay got off to a hot start early, opening the game on a 21-4 run to take a big lead in the opening minutes. By the time the buzzer sounded to end the first, Clay found themselves holding a 14-point lead at 26-12.
The second saw them push the lead further, as they outscored the Blue Devils 17-10. That added up to a 43-22 lead for the Bulldogs at the break.
Senior and Mr. Basketball finalist Grant Strong took over in the second half, leading Clay to a 41-18 advantage over the final 16 minutes to close out Harriman 84-40.
Strong finished the game with 35 points, while Jeff Spivey added 21 points on the strength of four three-pointers for head coach Rob Edwards.
“I thought we played with some rhythm on offense,” Edwards said. “At times, we haven’t seen that…that’s the kind of consistency we’ll have to see down the stretch to win. I really liked the we played offensively today.”
The 21 from Spivey continues his recent hot streak from the last few weeks, giving the Bulldogs a consistent secondary scoring option to Strong. That’s something that Edwards knows they’ll need more of if they want to have a chance to repeat in Murfreesboro.
“We’ve been waiting on that for all season long from guys like Jeff, Keaton and Jimmy Burchett to start making contributions on the offensive end,” Edwards said. “That’s what we’ve got to have, that chemistry, once the tournaments start.”
The District 7/A Tournament will begin with the play-in games on Monday night in Livingston.
