Basketball Recap: Cleveland Falls Despite Big Games from Laney Copeland and Lauren Hurst

If Cleveland was riding high fresh off their 55-13 takedown of Baylor last Saturday, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. The Cleveland Blue Raiders took a 56-37 bruising from the Bearden Bulldogs on Tuesday. The Blue Raiders haven't had much luck with the Bulldogs recently, as the team's come up short the last eight times they've met.

Lauren Hurst

Points

02/04/25 @ Bearden	15
02/01/25 vs Baylor	15
01/31/25 vs Walker Valley	21
01/28/25 vs Hamilton Heights Christian Academy	15
01/27/25 @ Walker Valley	20

Cleveland's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Lauren Hurst, who almost dropped a double-double on 15 points and nine rebounds, and Laney Copeland, who went 6 for 14 en route to 17 points. The matchup was Hurst's seventh in a row with at least ten points.

Cleveland's defeat dropped their record down to 18-5. As for Bearden, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won nine of their last ten games, which provided a nice bump to their 24-4 record this season.

Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Cleveland will venture away from home to face off against McMinn County at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Cleveland is facing McMinn County at the right time seeing as McMinn County is stuck on a seven-game losing streak. As for Bearden, they will head out on the road to take on Farragut at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Bearden knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past five contests -- so hopefully Farragut likes a good challenge.