by Rob on Apr 9, 2009 at 9:38 PM  BRYANT, Ark. — There's an unwritten rule among officials of all sports that says, "late in a close game, let the players determine the outcome." And, under the best of circumstances, that's admirable. Unfortunately, there are times when those officials are so intent on adhering to that unwritten rule, they stop enforcing the written ones. On Thursday, April 9, the Bryant Lady Hornets were scrambling to get a tying goal against the 7A-Central Conference's unbeaten first-place team, the Conway Lady Cats. The final minutes were ticking away and, in the midst of the action a Bryant player was knocked down. There was no call as the frantic play continued in front of the Conway goal. Time ran out. Conway survived, 2-1, and the Lady Hornets absorbed another gut-wrenching conference loss, their third by one goal, the most recent one prior to Thursday had been on Tuesday, April 7, when Bryant's comeback from a 3-0 deficit fell short in a 3-2 loss to Russellville. Though the Lady Hornets dropped to 6-6 overall and 3-5 in league play, they've had a chance to win all but one of those conference losses.
by Rob on Apr 5, 2009 at 10:10 PM Filed in
 RUSSELLVILLE — The Bryant Lady Hornet track team won their second consecutive meet championship Friday night at the Russellville Cyclone Relays.
In a field of 23 teams, the Lady Hornets scored 94 points surviving a late surge from 7A-Central Conference foe Conway, who finished runner-up with 86 points. LR Central finished third with 72 points. “We were battling with Conway all night, but I think the winning outcome basically came down to our overall depth, especially in the distanceevents,” said head coach Danny Westbrook. Junior sprinters Morgan Seelinger and Jordan Chadwick once again led the way for the Lady Hornets scoring a combined 56 points. Seelinger scored 33 points and Chadwick added 23.
by Rob on Mar 31, 2009 at 10:20 AM  MURFREESBORO, Ky. — Dodging rain drops and lightning bolts while playing musical softball diamonds, the Bryant Lady Hornets finished off the Southern Warrior Invitational Tournament with a pair of wins on Friday and a time-limited loss on Saturday.
The Lady Hornets had opened the tournament on Thursday, March 26, by splitting a pair of pool play games. The abbreviated tournament began with 34 teams from eight states but finished with fewer than that and no champion. All the teams were guaranteed six games at the event and Bryant got in five, more than many. The Lady Hornets rode a grand slam homer in the top of an extra inning to down the Catholic Aces from Owensboro, Ky., 8-5, on Friday. They followed that up with a 13-1 win over St. Bede Academy of Peru, Ill., behind one-hit pitching from Christen Kirchner and Kayla Sory. On Saturday, Bryant traveled 60 miles south to Fayetteville, Tenn., to take on the Franklin, Tenn., Raptors, dropping a 2-1 decision after the 70-minute time limit expired.
by Rob on Mar 27, 2009 at 2:35 PM  
By Mark Hart MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The Bryant Lady Hornets softball team began pool play at the Riverdale Lady Warrior Southern Invitational High School Softball Tournament on Thursday, March 26. In their opening game, they absorbed a 5-3 loss to the host Riverdale Lady Warriors. But they bounced back with a 4-0 win over the Point Pleasant, Va., Lady Knights. The tournament was plagued much of the day on Wednesday and Thursday with rain but, after a change in fields, play got under way in the evening with clear skies. Friday night’s pool games, the Lady Hornets were set to play against Baylor, Tenn., and Bolton, Tenn., high schools are uncertain as more rain is in the forecast.
by Rob on Mar 20, 2009 at 10:48 AM
The Bryant Lady Hornets, behind a combined 52 points from Morgan Seelinger and Jordan Chadwick, dominated the 21-team field at the annual Bryant Hornet Relays Thursday night.
Head coach Danny Westbrook called it “a total team effort.
"This team has a lot of track talent but I think our depth was the big key to winning tonight,” he continued. “Every facet of our team contributed. Ourdistance runners, sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers, and throwers all made contributions to our point total."
Seelinger was Bryant's high point athlete scoring 30 points. Chadwick added 22 points.
"Morgan and Jordan are best friends, but they are so competitive that they want to beat each other in anything they do,” Westbrook related. “As a coach, you have to really love their competitiveness."
The coach added, "All of the 7A-Central Conference schools were at this meet except for Van Buren. I think our winning tonight, in such a huge field, bodes well for our chances at the conference championship in May. Conway and (Little Rock) Central look to be the teams to beat, and they will be a lot stronger by conference. We just have to keep working hard."
The team will compete next at the Cyclone Relays in Russellville on Friday, April 3.
by Rob on Mar 18, 2009 at 1:49 PM 
Three different players scored and the Bryant Lady Hornets posted their second shutout of the season, whipping the North Little Rock Lady Charging Wildcats, 3-0, on Tuesday, March 17. The Lady Hornets, who were coming off their only back-to-back losses of the season, improved to 5-3 overall and 2-3 in the 7A-Central Conference going into spring break. They're set to return to action on Tuesday, March 31, at home against Mount St. Mary's with leading scorer Lindsai Arceneaux set to return from a knee injury. "The girls definitely picked it up," noted head coach Doug Maxwell. "That was a lot more the style we saw early in the season. It's exciting to see us get our combination play back together and start playing the ball to feed a little more and a little less kick ball, I guess." Bryant built a 2-0 lead by halftime. The first goal came in about the 24th minute. "Sarah Manning had an indirect kick from just outside the 18 on the left-hand side," Maxwell recounted. "She found Lauren Reed, a freshman, on the back post and Lauren one-touched it in, beat the keeper." About 34 minutes in, Haley Montgomery and Amber Moskow combined on an attack. "Those two got the ball at midfield and just combined, pass, pass, pass back and forth," noted the coach. "They split the defense, beat all the defenders then beat the keeper. It was a lot of one-touch play, perfect passing." Montgomery got the goal to make it 2-0.
by Rob on Mar 11, 2009 at 10:58 AM CONWAY — When Maggie Hart got a long kick from the left sideline into the net 12 minutes into the second half of the Tuesday's 7A-Central Conference soccer match, the Bryant Lady Hornets had pulled even with the Conway Lady Wampus Cats, 2-2. A perennial State tournament entry, the Lady Wampus Cats, who made it to the quarterfinals at State last spring, took over  the match at that point, scoring four times down the stretch for a 6-2 win. Bryant was without starting forward and leading scorer Lindsai Arceneaux due to an injury suffered in the previous match at Russellville, and starting defender Serenity Gomez, who received a red card at Russellville. The Lady Hornets' starting forward Amber Moskow was at about 70 percent, according to head coach Doug Maxwell, due to an ankle injury suffered at Russellville. And, during Tuesday's contest, they lost defender Grace Oxley to an ankle. "Unfortunately, several defensive breakdowns in coverage and communication cost us," Maxwell said. "Our youth on the field showed several times when we didn't maintain our composure on the field. There were a couple of times when we had five or six freshmen on the field together, which bodes well for the future." Amber Moskow scored Bryant's first-half goal off an assist from Haley Montgomery. "Unfortunately, though, we were out-shot 12-1 in the first half and went into halftime down 2-1," Maxwell mentioned. "We really struggled to find our touch on the ball. It didn't matter how hard we pushed, we were just not able to settle the ball to our feet and find the open player. "The first half, we battled back and forth on our defensive end and with two starters out on defense we struggled on the back line," continued the coach. "We were only able to make one strong offensive push and we took advantage of it. "During the second half, our control of the ball didn't improve even though we were able to tie it on Maggie Hart's goal." The Lady Hornets, 4-3 overall and 1-2 in conference, were set to play at Cabot on Thursday, March 12, before finally getting their second match at home on Tuesday, March 17, against North Little Rock. "We're hoping to get our first conference road win when we travel to Cabot to play a talented and well-coached Lady Panther team," Maxwell said.
by Rob on Mar 4, 2009 at 12:20 AM  The Bryant Lady Hornets welcomed the Van Buren Pointerettes to the 7A-Central Conference with a 6-1 thumping at Bryant Stadium on Tuesday, March 3.
Lindsai Arceneaux scored three goals in the first half and Erica Selig added one as the Lady Hornets rolled to a 4-0 halftime lead then scored twice more in the first 10 minutes of the second half to invoke the "mercy rule" on their way to their third straight win. They'll take a 4-1 overall record and 1-1 mark into their league match at Russellville on Thursday, March 5. Sarah Manning and Amber Moskow added the second half goals for the Lady Hornets. Manning, Jessica Baugh and Maggie Hart each had assists. Megan Childress had two saves in goal, as did Kaitlin Miller. Van Buren scored its long goal late in the contest.
by Rob on Mar 2, 2009 at 8:45 AM  FAYETTEVILLE — At the 2009 Indoor Track State Championship Saturday, Feb. 28, the Bryant Lady Hornets scored 10 points in the last two events to jump from seventh place to third place in the final team standings.
With only two events remaining, Junior Kayla Davidson placed 7th in the shot and the Lady Hornet’s 4 x 400 meter relay team of Ashley Petz, Morgan Seelinger, Lacie Raney, and Jordan Chadwick finished second. As a result, Bryant surpassed four teams to secure third place with 34 points.Bentonville won the meet championship with 105 points. Fayetteville took runner-up with 77 points. “Bentonville and Fayetteville really had everyone out-manned with their depth and talent, but I was extremely pleased with how our girls competed,” stated Lady Hornets coach Danny Westbrook. “They never gave up and finishing third in such a big field of 25 teams gives us some sense of accomplishment. “Jordan Chadwick and Morgan Seelinger both had outstanding performances today,” he added. “Jordan was our high point athlete with 11 points and Morgan scored 8 points. Between the two of them, they accounted for over half of our point total.”
by Rob on Mar 1, 2009 at 9:11 PM PARAGOULD — The Bryant Lady Hornets soccer team stuck around, overcame the elements and the host team to capture the championship of the abbreviated Paragould Invitational Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 28.  The Lady Hornets, who opened the tournament on Friday with a 3-1 win over Mountain Home, clipped Paragould, 3-0, in a match that ended in sleet and snow on Saturday to capture the title. The Lady Hornets improved to 3-1 on the season entering their home opener against Van Buren in a 7A-Central Conference game on Tuesday, March 3. Senior Sarah Manning had two goals and junior Shelby Bryant added her first varsity score in the championship game in which Paragould only managed to attempt one shot on goal that Bryant keeper Megan Childress saved. "You're never sure how things are going to go with the host team," acknowledged Lady Hornets coach Doug Maxwell who was also fighting the effects of the flu. "The weather started out at 32 degrees with a driving rain. We checked the wind right before the game and it was blowing about 20-25 miles per hour and it never let up. It turned to sleet and snow at halftime. Not the ideal conditions.
|