By Benny Rogers
It was not a typical district opener Friday night for the Brownsboro Bearettes.
Historical would be a better way to describe it.
The Bearettes took care of the Van Lady Vandals in 48-37 fashion to not only get District 14-AAA action started the right way, but to give veteran coach Fred Griffin his 800th career win.
In his 25th year at Brownsboro and 33rd overall in coaching, Griffin, 55, is now 800-264. He is 654-181 at Brownsboro.
Twenty-two of Griffin’s 24 previous seasons at Brownsboro have resulted in playoff appearances, fourth of which were trips to Austin for the state tournament.
Though the spotlight was on Griffin leading up to the milestone win, he was quick to also give credit to others.
“Our administration and community want to have a good girls athletic program,” Griffin told the Tyler Morning Telegraph. “We have a good Little Dribblers program and a good junior high program.”
Griffin’s milestone win came against former assistant coach Toby Mitchell, now in his second year at Van. Mitchell spent 10 years as Griffin’s assistant.
Brownsboro pulled away in the third quarter after leading 21-20 at the half. The Bearettes outscored Van 14-3 in the third quarter.
Monica Redfearn had 13 points to lead the Bearettes. Chelsea Chimney had 12 and Sabrina Bradley 10.
The Bearettes are 17-5 on the season.
