In the end, it wasn’t the size and 3-point shooting of Wyoming East that ended Bridgeport’s season in the first round of the Class AA girls state basketball tournament. Instead, it was a parade of second half lay-ups by the Warriors that capped the Indians’ season.

 

WEHS advanced to the semifinals thanks to a 53-31 victory against the Tribe. The loss ends Bridgeport’s year at 17-9, while the Warriors move to 23-3.

 

BHS never led in the contest, but were still within striking distance early in the fourth quarter despite trailing 40-25 with the last eight minutes to go. In fact, Bridgeport made it 42-29 with 7:12 to play when Madie Wilson took a feed from Rory Marple to score inside and keep things at least relatively close.

 

Then, the roof caved in. Bridgeport allowed an 11-0 run after Wilson’s basket that only featured one 3-point basket. The other four baskets came either on layups or offensive rebound put backs and the Indians found themselves on the wrong end of a 53-29 score with 2:27 remaining.

 

The game, without the 3-point shooting and powerful post play that WEHS used to earn a No. 2 seed and never materialized, was officially over.

 

Wyoming East got the win by scoring 27 second half points and putting a lid on Bridgeport’s offense. Of the Warriors’ point total 20 were off of layups and inside baskets, while four more points were off of free throws when the Indians fouled their foe inside.

 

“We gave up some layups and got beat on some back cuts for some simple stuff and made mistakes on the help side getting turned around,” said Bridgeport Coach Dennis Hutson. “We just gave up some easy ones there after doing a pretty good job of guarding the 3-point line.”

 

WEHS didn’t do well from distance. The team finished just 4-of-13 from beyond the arc, but the layups and inside baskets made the statistic a moot point.

 

“They were a little faster off the bounce than we thought they were,” said Hutson.

 

The Warriors were definitely fast out of the gate as the first quarter didn’t offer much in the way of hope for the Indians. Wyoming East came out strong and went ahead 9-0 largely behind five straight points from Skylar Davidson. Bridgeport didn’t get on the board until 2:26 was showing when Emily Riggs buried a 3-point field goal from the right wing.

 

Riggs’ basket started a mini-5-2 run that left the Tribe down 11-5 with 1:05 left. The final minute was not a good one for the Indians and the final 30 seconds was worse.

 

The Warriors scored eight straight points, but the big damage came on back-to-back triples by Brooke Russell and Hannah Blankenship in the last half minute that made the score 19-5 after one period.

 

Despite the deficit, Bridgeport didn’t throw in the towel.  Instead, the Indians managed to get the upper hand in the second quarter and make it a game.

 

“We calmed down a little bit and our defense got better in (the second quarter) situation,” said Hutson. “We forced them into some tougher shots and we were able to rebound the basketball.”

 

The calmness showed. After WEHS went up 23-10 with 4:53 to go before halftime, the Tribe closed the half with a 9-3 run that left them down 26-19 at the intermission. Riggs, who had nine first half points to lead the Indians, got things started with a 3-pointer from the key to make it 23-13. It was the final of three 3-point baskets over a near five-minute stretch for the senior.

 

After that, the Indians allowed just one more field goal and got contributions from several to make it a contest. Marple knocked down a 3-pointer, Lauren Riffle hit one of two  free throws and Paige Humble closed out the first half scoring two from the line to make it a seven-point  deficit at the half.

 

“We knew we were going to have to hit some mid-range jump shots; some 10, 12, 15 footers and we did that in the second period,” said Hutson.  “We actually got ourselves back in the basketball game. Unfortunately we weren’t able to do that on a consistent basis.”

 

Hutson was exaggerating. The team was a woeful 28.9 percent from the floor for the game on 11-of-38 shooting. Even with the strong second quarter, Bridgeport was anemic from the floor in the first half, shooting 26.1 percent on 6-of-23 shooting. Wyoming East wasn’t lighting it up as it was at 39.1 percent on 9-of-23 shooting through the first two quarters of play.

 

“You have to make shots,” said Hutson. “In this game, you’re not going to shut anyone out so you have to make shots … At the foul line we were 5-for-6. It’s a shame we didn’t get there 25 times.”

 

In the first half, Russell led the Warriors with nine points and six rebounds, while Jazz Blankenship added seven points. BHS’s Humble had four points and four rebounds at the half. The Indians actually won the battle of the boards by a 17-15 count.

 

The second half began much the same as the first with the Warriors starting quickly before Bridgeport settled in. Wyoming East scored two quick baskets to go up 30-19 with 7:14 remaining before finally. Although Bridgeport would make a bit of a move, the early burst was a preview of a quarter that essentially sealed it for the Warriors.

 

Wyoming East also decided to focus its defense more closely on Riggs, which is something that’s happened all season. Unfortunately for the BHS faithful, the move paid dividends.

 

“They knew I could shoot the outside shot off of screens and they started rubbing off screens pretty good,” said Riggs.

 

Bridgeport scored just six points in the quarter – Humble collecting four of them – as WEHS extended its advantage. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, Wyoming East was up 40-25 and the Tribe got no closer than 13 before the winning team put the game away with the decisive run.

 

In the final eight minutes, Bridgeport managed just six points. For the final 16 minutes of play, Bridgeport had just 12 points.

 

Riggs finished the game with 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting. Humble added 10 points on 3-of-7 shooting and 4-of-4 from the foul line.  Lauren Riffle came off the bench to lead the team with five boards as Bridgeport ended up winning the rebounding battled 26-23.

 

Russell’s lay-up drill resulted in a game-high 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Kati Daniels added 11 points, while 6’5 center and Tennessee signee Emily Saunders finished with 9 points and four blocked shots. Russell added a game-high eight rebounds.

 

“I’m still extremely proud of our kids. Any time you get to go to the state tournament it’s quite an honor … Unfortunately, the ball didn’t bounce our way at times today,” said Hutson. “That’s basketball.”

 

It’s also a career for Hutson. The long-time coach sat on the bench for his final game today. More on his career on Connect-Bridgeport this weekend.

 

Editor's Note: Photos by Joey Signorelli of www.benqueenphotography.com.