Coach Dennis King gets his Bruins fired up for the regional tournament victory over McGavock.

Story By CAROL STUART
Photos By Peg Fredi
For Brentwood Home Page
The Brentwood High boys basketball team kept its tournament dreams alive to play another night by defeating McGavock 57-40 in the region quarterfinals at BHS Friday night. But the Lady Bruins suffered a surprising season-ending loss on their home court, 48-41 to upstart Cane Ridge.

 The Bruins used their "Cody Pack" and went to 6-6 sophomore forward Cody Shelton, who broke loose for 10 straight points to open the second quarter.

Junior point guard Jack Montague drives around McGavock's Reggie Horton.

Senior guard James Cox goes for a layup in the Bruin's Region 6-AAA quarterfinal win.

Brentwood's Cody Shelton (32) and Will Jones (34) battle for the ball.

Lady Bruins backup point guard Paige Hood dribbles past Cane Ridge's Tasie Blue.

Senior guard Kyla Kerstetter (20) pushes the ball up the floor,with Paige Parker (12) and Susan Mathis (40) trailing.

Sophomore Paige Parker battles for a rebound as Kerstetter (20)and Halle Jarnagin (42) look on.

Photos by Peg Fredi

Shelton finished with 20 points for Brentwood (24-7), which now advances into Tuesday's 7:30 p.m. Region 6-AAA boys semifinal against the winner of Saturday's Hunters Lane-Hillsboro game.

"We had a bye in the district so this is really the first do-or-die game, and you're always on edge thinking your season can end," BHS boys coach Dennis King said. "We were kind of leery of their quickness and their athleticism, and they have some boys that I've seen through the year do some damage. But I thought we played some great team defense.

"It took us a while to kind of get in a flow. Once (Jack) Montague started pushing the ball up and slicing through, we started getting some easy baskets."

King and Shelton said the Bruins realized the girls' team lost as they waited in the wings, but were focused on their own business at hand.  But King admitted: "I didn't want Brentwood to have to bow out tonight and then have to come and sit in the hospitality room."

The Lady Bruins' senior class, led by District 11-AAA MVP Kyla Kerstetter, had played in the regional all four years, won two district championships and played in another final, Coach Ronnie Seigenthaler noted. They also were a "complete class," he said, providing players at all the positions -- posts, wings and point guard.

"It's very difficult when it ends abruptly like that," he said.

The BHS gymnasium today will probably turn into a home gym of sorts for Ravenwood, when the Raptors boys team plays at 8:30 p.m. against Hillwood and the girls take on Overton at 4 p.m.

Sophomore becomes go-to guy for Bruins 

The Bruins trailed the 12-AAA fourth-place Raiders 9-8 after the first quarter and James Cox already picking up his second foul on a charge. But Shelton outscored McGavock 10-2 and Cox scored on his own rebound for a 20-11 lead.

"We've got to be more conscious of him getting touches," King said about Shelton.  "We have a whole thing called a Cody Pack that we have to keep referring to, let's run this, let's run that, let's get the ball in his hands. He'd been kind of quiet for a couple of games, and I had this feeling he was going to have a big one tonight."

King said the sky's the limit in basketball for Shelton, who is also a baseball player.

"I thought I was going to come in the year and get some playing time, but I never expected this," Shelton said.

Brentwood was playing without senior Skyler Sims and got six points from freshman Andy Schumpert and five from sophomore Ryan Meacham. Sims broke his hand in the district championship win over Ravenwood, and the Bruins are hopeful of him playing Tuesday.

The Raiders trimmed a 13-point lead to 39-31 at the end of the third quarter with back-to-back 3s from Reggie Horton. But the Bruins went on a 15-2 run including a 3-pointer from Cox and six points from Montague.

Cox ended with 14 points including a pair of treys, and Montague added 10.

McGavock's Aaron Simms scored 11 of his 17 points in the first half, but King said Bruins defenders adjusted to his slicing and spinning moves to contain him.

If the Bruins win Tuesday, they'll be guaranteed two more games -- the Region 6-AAA boys final on Thursday and a sub-state game.

"It's kinda crazy, especially being a sophomore, that the season can end the next game or we can keep going on," Shelton said.

Lady Bruins force tie, but never regain lead

The Brentwood girls (22-5) had lost only four previous games until meeting up with Cane Ridge (18-10), a third-year Metro high school with its first senior class.

"It definitely wasn't something we were expecting," Kerstetter said. "We were not prepared to end our season now. It was a tough-fought game.

"They're a super athletic team. I guess we really didn't just make the adjustments we should have early in the game to minimize our turnovers and really execute our offense."

The Lady Bruins led only once, with Kerstetter hitting the game's first bucket. But  the Ravens opened with back-to-back 3-pointers by Jadah Fite and Tasie Blue.

Brentwood battled back to finally tie it 41-41 with 1:13 left, on what proved to be Kerstetter's final BHS basket -- following a steal by Paige Hood. But reserve Millie Tunnell was called for a foul on a made basket, then hit with a technical for apparently pulling out her tucked shirt, at 1:06.

Cane Ridge only hit one free throw and Hood made another steal, but Kerstetter couldn't get her shots to fall at the end. Post player Senecia Reid, who scored 12 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter, made two free throws for a 46-41 lead with 52 seconds to play.

Seigenthaler said Brentwood had relied on outrebounding and outhustling other teams, but couldn't overcome mistakes without doing those two things.

"They're athletic, they're quick off the floor, but you have to do some things fundamentally that we've been doing and we didn't do tonight," he said.

The Lady Bruins were also playing without senior point guard Natalie Shumacher, who missed all of last season with a chronic back condition, has missed several games this year, and reinjured it taking two charges in the district final. BHS also got into foul trouble early against the Ravens.

"When you're faced with an elimination, you have to handle what's in front of you," Seigenthaler said.

"We started out of our rotation due to injury, and then in fouls that puts you in a different rotation."

Kerstetter finished with 20 points despite a man defense that stuck to her like glue, and sophomore Paige Parker scored 13.

The William & Mary signee said the team and her classmates had meant so much to her: "It's like a family. Sig builds a family here, which makes us all so close. That's why this bites. All of us are hurting, especially the seniors."

"You don't replace a Kyla Kerstetter," Seigenthaler said. "You just build your team with the personnel that you've got coming back, and we've got some talent coming back and that's what we'll do in the offseason. We'll build that team and try to develop the strengths and play to our strengths."

Region 6-AAA boys quarterfinal
Brentwood --  8 18 13 18 -- 57 
McGavock  --   9  8  14   9 -- 40
BHS: Montague 10, Cox 14, Shelton 20, Joiner 2, Meacham 5, Schumpert 6. 
McG: Corley 2, Green 6, Horton 6, Warfield 2, 17, Batey 2, Patrick 5.
3-pointers: BHS 2 (Cox 2), McG 2 (Horton 2).

Region 6-AAA girls quarterfinal
Brentwood  --  7 10   8 16 -- 41 
Cane Ridge -- 10  9 10 19 -- 48
BHS: Hood 1, Parker 13, Kerstetter 20, H. Jarnagin 3, S. Jarnagin 4.
CR: Fite 7, Blue 11, Rucker 4, Reid 19, Hassell 3, Phillips 4.
3-pointers: BHS 2 (Parker, H. Jarnagin), CR 2 (Fite, Blue)