By CAROL STUART
For Brentwood Home Page
Ravenwood punched its ticket to the school's first girls basketball region finals and subsequent sub-state round when Jayne Rice scored on the buzzer to beat upstart Cane Ridge 39-37 Monday night in an exciting finish.

Rice collected a short desperation 3-point fling by Logan Hodskins and laid it up on the left side for the Region 6-AAA semifinal win at Brentwood High's gym.

"I had tears in my eyes when it rolled in," said senior point guard Lydia Wright, who was standing near Hodskins. "It was crazy."

The Lady Raptors (24-8) advance into Wednesday's 7 p.m. final at BHS against Hunters Lane and are also guaranteed a shot at state in Saturday's sub-state games at home sites. The Ravenwood and Brentwood boys both play in Tuesday's semifinals.

Before the game winner, Cane Ridge post player Senicia Reid had just blocked Hodskins' first long-range shot attempt -- Reid's sixth block of the game. But Hodskins got the ball back and was way short on her second try as the seconds ticked away.

"It was definitely a shot, but it ended up being a good pass," Hodskins said, laughing with joy. "I was just hoping that it was somewhere close to the rim, and then Jayne just happened to be there.

"I honestly didn't even see her. I was lucky."

Rice, a junior, said she thought her team might be in trouble -- just like last year when the district champion Raptors fell to Glencliff in the first round of regions

"I was just hopeful I could get some sort of rebound, some sort of opportunity," Rice said. "I was the only one down there. I just got the rebound and just put it up.

"It rolled -- and I was like 'Oh, my gosh, please roll in.' "

Hodskins hit 4-of-4 free throws in the fourth quarter, giving RHS back the lead at 33-31 with 6:39 left and then making it 37-34 with 52.7 seconds left.

Lady Ravens' top scorer Tasia Blue had been limited to six points by Ashley Beyke and other Ravenwood defenders, and got trapped before Cane Ridge called a time-out at 36.8 seconds. But with 25.2 seconds showing, Blue sank a big-time 3-point bucket off the dribble to tie it 37-37.

"One thing our girls do is they kept it together," RHS Coach Ron Brock said. "A team that can come in here and beat Brentwood on their home court is just a tall task, and for us to come in here and win, we'll take it. We had to fight hard to win it."

Hodskins and senior forward Erin Lauderdale finished with 10 points apiece. Lauderdale twice sank 3s after the Ravens went up by 5 points, in the second and third quarters.

Lauderdale also hit a pair of free throws for a 35-31 lead, just before Reid's 3-point play pulled Cane Ridge within 35-34.

"I never imagined we'd actually get here, but I'm glad that we have," said Lauderdale, the school's career leading scorer. "We've worked really hard, and it's just good to see all our hard work pay off.

"When I was a sophomore a bunch of girls quit, so our team was young and everyone was just starting to build up again. We built it up and this is the best we've ever done in school history."

Jadah Fite scored 13 points and had a trio of treys for Cane Ridge, which lost to Ravenwood by more than 30 points in December. The Ravens finished fourth in the District 12-AAA tournament but upset 11-AAA champion Brentwood on Friday.

Reid didn't start due to missing practice and got her fourth foul early in the fourth quarter. She still finished with 11 points and kept the Raptors' offense out of the paint for most of the game.

" We were glad she was in foul trouble a little bit," Brock said. "They took us out of a lot of our stuff. "

RHS, which finished third in 11-AAA, is now the district's only team remaining after 12-AAA champion Hunters Lane defeated runner-up Hillsboro 65-52 in Monday's other semifinal. The Lady Raptors keep setting records for school victories, never winning 20 until this year.

"Our girls have the ability to make plays if we can just get it in somebody's hands in the right situation,"
Brock said. "Sometimes when you work hard, good things happen. We worked hard all year, and just tonight some good happened.

"Cane Ridge has done a great job this year, they've gotten better, their coach has done a fantastic job with them. Blue is a heck of a ballplayer, and we're just fortunate to be where we are."

In tonight's boys semifinals, the 11-AAA runner-up Raptors challenge 12-AAA winner Overton at 6 p.m. and the 11-AAA champion Bruins battle 12-AAA runner-up Hunters Lane at 7:30 p.m. The Bruins will probably still be without Skyler Sims, who suffered a broken hand.

Region 6-AAA girls semifinal
Ravenwood  -- 13   7  9 10 -- 39
Cane Ridge   -- 14  6 11   6 -- 37
RHS: Beyke 4, Hodskins 10, McKay 2, Wright 5, Rice 8, Lauderdale 10.
CR: Fite 13, Blue 9, Reid 11, Hassel 2, Rucker.
RHS 3 (Lauderdale 2, Wright), CR 4 (Fite 3, Blue)