Stone Bridge Girls Prove Worthy of District Title

The Liberty District champion Stone Bridge Bulldogs (23-3, 13-3) defended the honor of the title for the first time Monday night, hosting No. 4 Hayfield (11-12, 8-7) in a first-round match upin the regional playoff tournament.

Stone Bridge was tested early and often in a game that stayed close for three and a half quarters, but the Bulldogs advanced to the second round of the tournament behind a dominant fourth quarter from Murielle Tiernan for the 43-30 win.

Tiernan scored another double-double, while shooting 4 for 9 and tying Cori Prince for a game-high 13 points. Tiernan added 11 boards and two steals, increasing her team’s lead to eight off of an 8-foot jumper with 3:05 left in the game.

With the win, the Bulldogs advance to the second round Wednesday night against No. 2 seed Robinson at Stone Bridge High.

The Bulldogs caught an early break when Hayfield standout Shannen Cochraham injured her knee following one of her four blocks with 3:48 in the third quarter. She sat for three minutes while Stone Bridge stretched its lead to four points.

“I went up for the block, came down and my knee locked back. I tried to pop it back forward and I ran into the wall,” Cochraham said. “I went over to the trainer and he looked me over and I sat, but did not want to sit for long. I wanted to come back in.”

The second half became extremely physical and Stone Bridge fans began screaming at referees because of  “no calls” against the Hawks. Megan Della-Penna came off the bench for the Bulldogs and added a much needed spark which swung the momentum back to her team when she scored four of her eight points from the stripe and a short range jumper with 2:58 left in the third quarter.

Then Cochraham returned and went on a tear, shooting 5 of 9 for 10 points and 11 boards. And Cochraham’s teammates Brandi Smith and Renee Reives scored 7 points apiece. But it would not be enough to catch the elusive Bulldogs as Nicole Prince hit five free throws down the stretch to put her team up by 15 with 50 seconds left in regulation.

“I was pretty nervous going up there and knew I had to make them because we needed the points,” Nicole Prince said. “I just feel so much better because I know I am helping out the team.”

Cori Prince who went 4 for 13 for a game-high 13 points, drained one of her three 3-pointers on the night from 20 feet. Teammate Hannah Beth Whitaker followed it up with a finger roll to give Stone Bridge a 6-point lead heading into the final quarter.

“I knew I had to make my shots but I definitely took more than I thought. I didn’t make some of them, but I knew I had to keep shooting to help the team out,” Cori Prince said. “We just want to get as far as we can and, hopefully, to the championship. That would be great.”

Despite Cochraham's strong return, it would not be enough. Tiernan’s work increased her the Bulldogs' lead to eight from underneath the basket and forced Hayfield to foul often with only 2:30 left to play.

Tiernan said the key was taking Cochraham out of the game as much as possible.

“We started to draw her [Cochraham] to the outside from under the basket and we are quicker so it worked,” Tiernan said. “We knew we were the quicker team so we wanted to come out, run them and make them tired, which is what we did.”

Bulldog Head Coach Chris Jones said his team started off a little slow but came out strong in the second half and added that Cori Prince hit the big three when it counted.

“The key for us was the second half. We were able to get some turnovers off of our pressure a little bit,” Jones said. “Cochraham is a tremendous player and we had a tough time with her tonight. At the end we put Murielle on her and fronted her and she was able to stop her. We were getting wide open looks and we needed someone to make a couple to break up their zone and finally Cori was able to knock a couple [three-pointers] down.”

Stone Bridge plays at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23, at home against Robinson.