BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Ar’Nayshia Griffin scored 10 points as part of a 14-2 second-quarter run that gave the Bradford High School girls basketball team a lead it would never relinquish in a 47-39 win over two-time defending Class 1A state champion Hawthorne on Dec. 18 in Starke.
It was the seventh straight win for the Class 3A Tornadoes (8-2), who’ll return to action with a home game against Williston on Thursday, Jan. 9, at 7 p.m.
Bradford got off to a rough start, missing its first seven field-goal attempts and turning the ball over five times as the Hornets built a 7-0 lead. Khamyra Hankerson finally put the Tornadoes on the board with a three-pointer at the 2:13 mark of the first quarter.
A couple of baskets by Nichelle Brown helped Bradford go into the second quarter trailing by just one point.
Hawthorne went up 13-11 before the Tornadoes scored 14 of the final 16 points of the first half. The run began with Brown scoring off a Hankerson steal. Griffin made a free throw and then knocked down a short jump shot to put Bradford up 16-13. Hankerson missed a layup attempt after her own backcourt steal, but Brown was there to grab the rebound and put it back for a five-point lead.
Griffin kept the run going. She made a free throw and then scored off an offensive rebound. She was fouled on the shot and made the awarded free-throw attempt to put the Tornadoes ahead 22-13.
The Hornets finally scored, but Griffin sank a three-point shot late in the half to send Bradford into the locker room leading 25-15.
Bradford was outscored 14-8 in the third quarter, with half of Hawthorne’s points coming at the foul line. Hankerson scored off her own steal and also added a basket off a Griffin assist to help the Tornadoes stay in front.
The Hornets’ T’Myrah Carter drove the baseline for a buzzer-beating basket that made the score 33-29 in favor of Bradford going into the fourth quarter.
Hawthorne went 3 of 11 from the field in the fourth quarter and turned the ball over seven times. One of those turnovers — a steal by Cherish Bing — led to a three-pointer by Griffin for the quarter’s first points.
Griffin had eight points in the final quarter. She went 3 of 3 at the foul line after getting fouled on a three-point shot and added a two-point basket off a Brown steal. She also drew a charge late in the game.
The effort helped Griffin finish with a game-high 21 points. Brown and Hankerson had 15 and nine points, respectively, while Wynter Barrington added two.
Griffin has now posted a double-double in every game but one. She grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and also had three assists.
Barrington and Brown had eight and five rebounds, respectively, with Brown also recording four steals and a team-high four assists.
Hankerson led the team in steals with seven.
