BRENTWOOD – For only the third time in 19 seasons, the Ravenwood High School basketball teams traveled to arch rival Brentwood Tuesday night and swept both the boys and girls contests.
The Lady Raptors captured a 45-33 win, a score deceptive of the intense contest, while the boys battled to a 55-53 victory in overtime.
Ravenwood girls 45, Brentwood 33
Reghan Grimes and Elizabeth Flynn combined for 33 points and 30 rebounds as Ravenwood exploded in the fourth quarter, outscoring Brentwood 17-4 to cap what had been a see-saw affair.
It was a recurring theme, as Grimes took over in the fourth, scoring seven of her game-high 18 points and grabbing six of her stat-topping 16 rebounds.
"It's a big rivalry game," the Tennessee Tech commit said after the game. "It doesn't have the same feeling not being a district game, but the rivalry is still there, so it's good to get the win."
Both teams struggled early in a physically brutal, but clean, defensive struggle that ended with the score knotted at seven each.
Grimes agreed with the description but wasn't concerned.
"It definitely felt that way," Grimes said. "I thought some more calls could have been made. But they were calling it even both ways, so I'm fine with that."
Grimes was active all night, creating problems for Brentwood and opening things up for Flynn, who ended the night with 12 points and 14 boards of her own, helping to erase an early deficit.
"We all just worked together," Flynn said. "At the beginning of the game we were struggling to score, but the chemistry that we have, the bonds we have as a team, we were able to pull out a win."
Grimes and Flynn combined for 13 of the Lady Raptors' 16 points in the critical final quarter offensively and defensively spent the entire game keeping Brentwood off their rhythm shooting. The Lady Bruins got a single basket – from Sydney Ryan with less than three minutes to play – in the final stanza as their six-game win streak was halted.
"We are not disappointed," said Brentwood coach Marcel Williams. "We just did not shoot the ball well. We haven't shot that badly since Cumberland County. Their players did what they do and we just could not hit the shots. Defensively I thought we played really well."
Brentwood closed with 24% shooting, including hitting just 4 of 23 from 3-point territory.
Ravenwood travels to Nolensville Friday night for a District 12-4A contest, while Brentwood will host Centennial in a District 11-4A tilt.
Ravenwood girls 45, Brentwood 33
RHS 7 7 14 17 – 45
BHS 7 11 11 4 – 33
RHS (44) – Reghan Grimes 18, Elizabeth Flynn 15, Natalie Prestegaard 9, Emma Ray 3.
BHS (33) – Sydney Ryan 12, Ella Ryan 9, Brianna Keating-Rendon 5, Charlotte Lambright 5, Kaitlyn Lorenzi 2.
3-pointers – RHS 4 (Prestegaard 3, Ray); BHS 4 (Keating-Rendon, S. Ryan, E. Ryan, Lambright). Total Fouls – RHS 7; BHS 11. Fouled out – None.
Ravenwood 55 boys Brentwood 53, OT
New Brentwood coach Troy Bond got his initiation into the rivalry that is the Battle of the Woods Tuesday night and though his Bruins fell 55-53 in overtime, he likes what he sees.
"What a great atmosphere; a fun time. Our student body is amazing, the way they turned out," Bond gushed despite the loss. "It was like a heavyweight fight, it was just a matter of who made the big play at the right time. I thought our guys showed a lot of class and heart.
"We got down double digits and we could have folded. But we started pressing, made some big plays and some big shots and got right back in it."
The game featured 11 lead changes and four ties, with Brentwood breaking out to a 10-3 lead early and Ravenwood answering to tie the game at 10, all before half of the first-quarter clock had expired.
Brentwood dominated the first half behind a 20-point scoring onslaught by Davis White. The Bruin defense was key, too, in the second quarter with the Raptors racking up a single free throw in 12 possessions before Evan Gainer was able to score the final three points of the quarter to pull Ravenwood within 30-24 at the half.
Still, Ravenwood coach Patrick Whitlock was not happy at the break.
"I was pretty upset at halftime," he said. "That's a little bit longer talk than I normally give, and our kids came out and responded in the second half."
Ravenwood went on a 14-5 run in the first six minutes of the frame, taking a 38-35 lead before Jake Brock evened things with his only points of the game, a contested 3-pointer. Jack Mulder and Matt Williams answered with back-to-back treys giving the Raptors a 44-38 lead that stretched to 11 points with less than four minutes to play.
But in the final minutes, Daniel Cochran and Nick Degnan combined for 12 points to tie the game at 52 and force overtime.
Lee Molette got his only bucket of the night after a Brentwood turnover to start the extra frame and Gainer added a free throw. Cochran hit the back side of a double bonus with 55 seconds to play and the Bruins had a chance to tie in the final seconds, but Degnan's shot was slapped away by DJ Starr to secure the win for Ravenwood.
Mulder finished the night with 19 points and Starr added 12 to lead the Raptors. After a blistering first half, White ended the game as the leading scorer for the game with 22 points, while Cochran chipped in 15 for the Bruins.
The win did not come without some controversy, as verbal jabs were exchanged between a couple of Ravenwood players and the Brentwood student section as Raptor fans rushed the floor to celebrate at mid court.
"I'm disappointed with how some of our players celebrated the win and I sincerely apologize to the Brentwood community and coach Bond and his players," Whitlock said. "I have a lot of respect for those kids in the other locker room. Davis White and Jake Brock have been around here forever it seems; they are competitors and they played their butts off tonight."
Ravenwood boys 55, Brentwood 53, OT
RHS 18 6 20 8 3 – 55
BHS 14 13 8 14 1 – 53
RHS (55) – Jake Mulder 19, DJ Starr 12, Andrew Lamuno 7, Evan Gainer 6, Matt Williams 5, Malcolm Hamilton 2, Lee Molette 2, Brett Shelby 2.
BHS (53) – Davis White 22, Daniel Cochran 15, Nick Degnan 8, Grayson Collins 3, Jake Brock 3, Phillip Hyams 2.
3-pointers – RHS 8 (Mulder 5, Starr 2, Williams); BHS 6 (Davis 2, Cochran 2, Collins, Brock). Total Fouls – RHS 18; BHS 12. Fouled out – Mulder.
