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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

GATLINBURG, Tenn. – The Briarwood Christian Lions bounced back from a first-round setback to earn fifth place in the Smoky Mountain Christmas Classic Red Bracket.

Briarwood ended its trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee with wins over Kentucky’s Harrison County Thorobreds by a score of 49-47 on Friday, Dec. 20 and Tennessee’s Grundy County Yellow Jackets 65-45 on Saturday, Dec. 21.

Before that though, the Lions lost 62-33 to the North Lauren Jaguars out of Kentucky on Thursday, Dec. 19.

Briarwood fell behind 24-2 in the first quarter and could never recover. Despite an improved defensive effort in the second half, the Lions couldn’t overcome the large deficit and lost by 29 to fall into the consolation bracket.

Emma Kerley led Briarwood with 12 points while Sasha Munikar scored eight points, Ann Tatum Baker had six points and Grace Garrett earned four points.

The Lions brushed off the loss and took an early lead against Harrison County to gain early control in the matchup. Briarwood outpaced the Thorobreds’ 3-point shooting with a balanced offensive effort with five scorers combining for 13 points to take a 13-9 lead into the second.

From there, the Lions continued to keep Harrison County at bay as Kerley took over with nine points after going scoreless in the first quarter. The recently-crowned 1,000-point scorer got some help in the form of 3-pointers from Munikar and Sarah Travis to increase the lead to 30-22 at the break.

However, everything changed in the third quarter as the Thorobreds defense stifled Briarwood’s offense. Harrison County outscored the Lions 14-2 to grab a 36-32 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Briarwood responded well to the pressure in the final eight minutes. Clara Crawford got more involved in the offense, scoring six points after only making one basket in the previous three quarters, and Travis, Munikar and Kerley each hit a 3-pointer to retake the lead.

The Lions also did a good job of getting the Thorobreds to the free throw line late, limiting some of their success from deep and securing the two-point win in the process.

Kerley led the team once again with 14 points. Travis scored nine points off a trio of 3-pointers. Crawford and Munikar each had eight points, Garrett scored six points and Baker earned four points.

After having to fight for a win in the consolation semifinals, Briarwood got a much easier victory in the fifth-place game against Grundy County.

Before pulling away, the Lions lead was just at 13-9 at the end of the first quarter as Kerley and Baker accounted for all 13 of their points during the opening eight minutes.

Briarwood kicked into another gear in the second quarter though as Kerley scored nine points to give her 18 for the half, Baker added five more points and Garrett earned her first four points of the night.

That increased the halftime lead to 33-21, and the Lions would only build off that double-digit advantage in the second half.

Grundy County did outscore Briarwood 14-11 in the third quarter, but it wasn’t enough to significantly cut into the lead as Kerley and Baker’s continued offensive contributions helped limit the damage.

Up 44-35 going into the fourth quarter, the Lions poured on the points in the final stretch of the game. Kerley and Garrett made the most of their numerous free throw opportunities as Garrett went 5-for-6 from the line in the fourth and Kerley was 6-for-8 from the charity stripe.

The two of them helped lead the charge to finish off the 20-point victory and win the consolation bracket.

Kerley dropped a game-high 32 points while Baker scored 16 points and Garrett posted 11 points to make it three Briarwood players in double figures. Munikar rounded out the offense with six points off a pair of 3-pointers.

The Lions are now 9-8 going into the Leeds Invitational on Dec. 27-28 at Leeds High School.