BA Boys and Girls Advance to BlueCross B-Ball Championship

The Division II-AA semifinals were held Thursday at Lipscomb University.

Girls

Father Ryan v Ensworth

The lady Fightin’ Irish lost to Ensworth 52 to 35.

Father Ryan started very slow, scoring just one point in the first quarter which set them back for the whole game.

Over the last three quarters, in fact, they out scored Ensworth.

Allison Proctor led Father Ryan with 14 points on 2 of 9 shooting. As a team, the Irish missed their first six shots. And overall shot just 6 for 36 as a team. Ensworth shot 13 of 29.

The Tigers will play Brentwood Academy Saturday at 1pm for the BlueCross Basketball championship.

Brentwood Academy v Briarcrest

The BA girls got off to a hot start in their 66-37 win against Briarcrest (22-8)

On their way to a blowout victory and the BlueCross Division II-AA State championship Saturday, the Eagles (24-6) got off to a 21-8 first quarter lead.

By half they had extended the lead to 35-17. There was no turning back. The lead increased to 50-28 after three quarters.

Four Eagles had double digits, with Maggie Brown leading the team with 14 on 7 of 11 shooting.

BA dominated in the paint, out scoring Briarcrest 32 to 13. Also they swarmed in defense, causing 27 turnovers.

Owens Savanna led Briarcrest and all scorers with 18 points on 7 of 15 shooting but it was not enough.

The Eagles will play Ensworth (22-4) Saturday at 1 p.m. for the Division II-AA BlueCross Basketball Championship.

Boys

Brentwood Academy v Ensworth

Although it was a low-scoring first quarter, Brentwood Academy rallied and beat Ensworth 56 to 42 in the semifinal round of the BlueCross Boys basketball championship.

By half-time, the Eagles looked to be taking control. They trailed 6-7 after one but were up 23-17 at half after going on a 17-10 run.

In the third, the Tigers picked things back up, playing even. But, they still entered the final quarter trailing 34-28.

Spurred by a Darius Garland dunk, BA took over in the fourth.

Garland led all players with 23 points on 7 for 17 shooting. He also had 4 steals, and so did Camron Johnson, who was the second highest scorer in the game and for BA with 13 points.

The Eagles dominated on defense, with 17 steals as a team. They had 21 points off turnovers and 28 in the paint.

Brentwood Academy will play McCallie Saturday at 3pm for the Championship.

McCallie v MBA

In the last game of the first day of the BlueCross Basketball Championship, McCallie beat Montgomery Bell Academy 62 to 45.

On an outstanding performance by Junior Clay, who scored 34 points, McCallie pulled away late.

It was the closest game of the day for three quarters; McCallie led 9 to 8 after the first quarter and MBA was still hanging around at half, down 28 to 26.

Things stayed close through three quarters, as McCallie was still up 2, 41 to 39. With 8 minutes left, it looked like it would come down to the wire.

But McCallie pulled away in the fourth.

Brentwood Academy will play them for the crown on Saturday.