BHS, RHS open district play at home; BA visits nearby Ensworth

By CAROL STUART
Brentwood Home Page
Brentwood High girls basketball coach Ron Seigenthaler breaks the season into thirds, and Ravenwood boys basketball coach calls it phases. But, whatever the lingo, a new “season” begins Friday night when BHS and RHS open district competition and Brentwood Academy teams start region play.

Ravenwood and Devin Robinson are 11-2 so far. (File photos by Peg Fredi for BHP)

Brentwood High will host Independence, while Ravenwood has homecourt advantage against Hillsboro in District 11-AAA. BA will travel to neighboring Ensworth in Division II-AA East/Middle Region.

Games start with girls tipoffs at 6 p.m. for all three sites, and boys contests following about 7:30 p.m.

“If you look at your record and you’re 14-2, then obviously we passed the test with flying colors,” Seigenthaler said of the Lady Bruins.

“To me, it’s not about your record. What is your team learning about themselves? Are people understanding their roles? Is the team improving? And the answer to those in my opinion is yes.”

While the Brentwood girls made the finals of last week’s Beech tournament, the BHS boys team won their second tourney title during the Christmas break by handing Clarksville Northeast and Kentucky recruit Alex Poythress their first loss and defeating both the defending Class A (Lake County) and AA (Liberty Tech) state champs.

“We had a great two weeks,” Bruins Coach Dennis King said. “Some players grew up, learned how to reach down and play hard from buzzer to buzzer.”

Ravenwood’s boys also were runners-up at the Beech tournament and are off to their best start in school history at 11-2.

“We were very happy with our non-district performance, but the level of play will have to change now that we are getting into district play,” Raptors Coach Patrick Whitlock said.

Here’s a look at the teams going into Friday night’s games:

Brentwood boys

Senior point guard Jack Montague continues to be the catalyst for BHS (13-4), which suffered through some early-season close losses and several injuries before winning seven straight.

Jack Montague

The Bruins put together a good run in winning both the Ensworth Holiday Shootout before Christmas and the Above the Rim tourney at Hickman County last week.

“Our two Christmas tournament championships are the highlights,” King said. “We played six very good teams and found a way to beat all of them.”

Forward Cody Shelton, a key player as a 6-6 sophomore last year, only played briefly in one game back from a knee injury and then sat out again with swelling but should see playing time soon. Starter Ryan Meacham’s left wrist didn’t heal well after he returned from two broken wrists, so he is out another 4-6 weeks after playing well for the Bruins.

Asa Duvall, a transfer from Brentwood Academy, has been a big addition to the team so far.

“Independence will bring a 13-3 record into our gym. They play great team defense, and are smart and savvy on offense,” King said.

Independence won its district opener, 64-41 over Centennial on Tuesday. Josh Barr scored 24 points with a pair of 3s and Cam Miller had 21 for the Eagle.

Brentwood girls

Seigenthaler, who calls postseason play the final third of the season, said his players are accepting their roles and showing promise by improving. Competition to this point reveals weaknesses as well as strengths, he said.

Twins Halle and Sara Jarnagin have helped the Lady Bruins roll up a 14-2 record.

“I think this team plays really hard, and that’s not a cliché,” the Lady Bruins coach said. “If coaches are completely honest, they can’t say that every year, the dynamics change … This team practices hard and plays hard, and that has enabled us to win some games when we weren’t playing well.”

Seigenthaler has been pleased with players stepping up after the graduation of all-time BHS leading scorer Kyla Kerstetter, now at William & Mary after averging 22 points a game.

Senior Halle Jarnagin and junior Paige Parker have had consistent play with point productivity as expected, but Seigenthaler also named sophomore Olivia Shealy, senior Sara Jarnagin and Millie Tunnell as players he wanted to “sing their praise.”

Shealy “has embraced her role, and she has started to play the game she is capable of playing and giving us very positive play when she’s on the court,” he said. Sara Jaragin, a two-year starter, has had consistent nights and bringing more defense to the table as hoped.

Tunnell is a first-year starter who “draws tough defensive assignments. She does a lot of the ‘dirty work’ – things that don’t get a lot of praise, don’t get a lot of stats – and she’s one of top three rebounders night in and night out,” Seigenthaler said.

Independence (11-4) is a much-improved program that makes hustle plays and has several good shooters, with three or four starters consistently hitting double-digits that will test Brentwood’s defense, the coach said.

Ravenwood boys

Playmaker Devin Robinson has stepped up his game this year with averages of 18 points and 4 assists, while long-range shooting threat Andy Moore adds 13 points per game.

Junior Joey Barnes, a 6-8 forward, has made big contributions in the middle with 13 points and 9 rebounds a game.

“Hillsboro is a very dangerous team that could compete for the title,” Whitlock said. “They always play us tough so it is going to be a battle for 32 minutes.”

The Burros (9-7, 1-0 11-AAA) got 11 points from Kyle Phillips and 10 each from Tim Gaines (2 treys) and Dezon Dozier in a 49-32 district victory against Franklin on Tuesday.

Ravenwood girls

The Lady Raptors have compiled a 9-4 record so far this season, also having to replace an all-time leading scorer in Erin Lauderdale.

Coach Ron Brock is trying to get younger players to gel with returning players.

Lexi McKay (11.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg), Logan Hodskins (11.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg), Jayne Rice (3.1 assists, 2.5 steals per game)  and Erin Johnson (71% at the line) all made contributions last year and are back, although Ashley Beyke didn’t return to concentrate more on softball.

“We are not where we would like to be but the team is working hard to get there,” said RHS girls coach Ron Brock. “Younger players are starting to plug in.”

Winning district games still will be a challenge for the team, Brock added.

“Hillsboro is playing very good,” Brock said. “It will be hard to come out with a district win in our first district contest.”

The defending regular-season district champ Lady Burros (11-6) graduated 6-3 Isabella Harrison to the the University of Tennessee Lady Vols, but have started off 1-0 in District 11-AAA already.

Brentwood Academy girls

The Lady Eagles (8-7) took on a challenging schedule in the first half of the season and had quite a bit of success that’s not all evident in the record. BA won two games in overtime and another on a last-second shot against Rossview.

“We have played a very tough non-conference schedule that has hopefully gotten us ready for our region competition,” said BA Coach Rhonda Blades Brown, the former Vanderbilt player.

The DII-AA Middle/East region is very strong top to bottom this year so every game will be a battle, Brown said, but then the Lady Eagles draw a tough assignment off the bat with 2010 state champion Ensworth (8-4) on the road.

 “They are very athletic and physical,” Brown said. “They’re used to winning so we must be mentally ready to play them at their place to start the region season.”

Hailey Pierson is leading the team with 11.2 points and 7.1 rebounds a game, while Jai Murphy averages 9 points and 5 rebounds.

BA dropped a narrow decision to Knoxville Webb 55-52 on Tuesday, giving up a 3-pointer with little under a minute left to fall behind by a point. The Lady Eagles didn’t scored and had to foul to get the ball back.

Brentwood Academy boys

The Eagles should have backup point guard Harrison Alexander back next week, and is improving after getting off to a slow start, Coach Lyle Husband said.

“We are playing better going into region,” Husband said. “We’re still trying to gel as a team. The biggest challenge is just our tough league. There are no breaks. All teams are good and well-coached.”

Ensworth (10-4) poses a major challenge in the region opener. Rico Watson hit four 3-pointers in a 62-60 victory over Cardinal Gibbons as the Tigers captured the Naple Daily News Gulf Shore Shootout championship last week.

“They shoot very well and their pressure defense creates problems,” Husband said.