By Rob Patrick
You know how some games are closer than the final score indicates? Well, just the opposite was true of Monday’s game between the Bryant Lady Hornets freshman team and the Conway White Wampus Kittens.
The Lady Hornets improved to 11-0 on the season with a 36-19 win that included an opening run of 20-1 by the starters.
Everyone played and contributed to holding Conway to just five field goals in the game, four of them by Summer Roachell who scored 14 of her team’s points.
McKenzie Adams led Bryant with 12 points, Kiara Moore had 10, Courtney Davidson 5, Hayley Murphy 4, McKenzie Rice 3 and Whitney Meyer 2.
The game was the last before Christmas for the Lady Hornets who return to competition on Wednesday, Dec. 30, against Malvern in the Kameron Hale Invitational Tournament at Lake Hamilton. Their next game in the South Division of the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference will be against North Little Rock on Jan. 4, in a battle between two of the three teams atop the league. (Cabot South is the third, and the Lady Hornets face them on Jan. 7.)[more]
Bryant’s starting five played less than two quarters — the first and third —against Conway White, outscoring them 27-3.
The opening blitz started with a free throw by Moore and an offensive-rebound basket by Davidson off her missed second shot. Moore hit a 3 then Adams made a steal and layup. Two free throws by Moore with 4:38 left in the first quarter had the Lady Hornets ahead 10-0.
Roachell hit a free throw to interrupt but when Meyer scored inside off a feed from Moore, Bryant was off and running again.
Another steal by Adams led to a bucket by Moore. Another turnover led to a layup by Adams and, moments later, Murphy grabbed an offensive rebound and scored. Davidson blocked a shot at the other end and Adams cashed in with a short jumper that made it 20-1.
With head coach Eric Andrews getting everyone in the game in the second quarter, the Lady Hornets were unable to add to their total and Conway trimmed the margin to 20-8 by the half.
The starters returned and pushed it to 31-8 before sitting for the rest of the contest. Down the stretch, Rice, with a jumper from the left wing plus a free throw, and Murphy, on a short jumper in the lane, added to the Bryant total.
LADY HORNETS 36, LADY WAMPUS KITTENS 19
Score by quarters
Conway White 1 7 2 9 — 19
BRYANT 20 0 9 5 — 36
LADY WAMPUS KITTENS 19
Roachell 4-11 6-8 14, Conley 0-0 2-2 2, Kelley 0-7 0-0 0, Benton 0-1 0-0 0, Cates 1-4 0-0 3, Marrow 0-3 0-0 0, Howard 0-0 0-0 0, Boyd 0-2 0-0 0, Cobbs 0-0 0-0 0, Skinner 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 5-28 8-10 19.
LADY HORNETS 36
Moore 3-6 3-4 10, Adams 6-12 0-2 12, Davis 0-2 0-0 0, Davidson 2-3 1-2 5, Meyer 1-3 0-0 2, Murphy 2-7 0-0 4, McPherson 0-2 0-2 0, Scarlett 0-2 0-0 0, Henderson 0-0 0-0 0, Yazza 0-3 0-0 0, Combs 0-1 0-1 0, Rice 1-4 1-2 3. Totals 15-45 5-13 36.
Three-point field goals: Conway White 1-5 (Cates 1-3, Roachell 0-1, Boyd 0-1), Bryant 1-4 (Moore 1-1, Adams 0-3). Rebounds: Conway White 19 (Cates 6), Bryant 33 (Davidson 5, Murphy, McPherson 4). Turnovers: Conway White 21, Bryant 10. Team fouls: Conway White 11, Bryant 9.
