Team Arkansas Elite, a 14-and-under girls basketball team featuring six players from the 2009-10 unbeaten Central Arkansas Junior High Conference champion Bryant Lady Hornets captured the AAU National Championship in Orlando, Fla., earlier this month.

The six Bryant players who will be sophomores this fall are McKenzie Adams, Lauren Buck, Logan Davis, Whitney Meyer, Kiara Moore and Haley Murphy along with Aubree Allen of Bryant Middle School and Mary Crow of Bauxite. Team members also include Jaylin Bridges and Elliott Taylor of Cabot, Morgan Hawkins of Arkansas Baptist Academy, Jessica Saunders of Central Arkansas Christian and Laura Edmondson of Pulaski Academy. Rebecca Davis was the team’s head coach with assistance from Rick Meyer.

Bryant High School will be well represented at this week's annual Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star events on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville.

The 2010 Bryant Lady Hornets Basketball Clinic will be held June 7-9 at the BHS gym. The camp is open to all female athletes entering grades 3 through 8.

Pre-registration cost is $55 per person. Pre-registration form and fee must be returned to Coach Blake Condley by May 28. Registration received after May 28 is $65 per person.

Bryant’s Kenzee Calley, K-Ron Lairy, Alana Morris and Brandon Parish will be among the Saline County high school senior basketball all-stars who will take on team of former Arkanas athletes in a benefit game at 7 p.m., on Friday, May 7, at the Benton High School Arena.

The Razorbacks for Reading benefit game will be hosted by the Leadership Saline County, Class V, as a fundraiser for Imagination Library of Saline County.

Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for students.

Physicals and tryouts for 2010-11 athletics have been scheduled at Bryant Middle School. According to assistant principal Lesa Lindberg, all athletes must have a current physical to tryout.

The school will provide transportation to physicals given at OrthoArkansas for boys on May 3 and girls on May 6. There is a $10 cash fee.

 Senior Alana Morris, above, has been named to the Class 7A All-State team and junior post Abbi Stearns, below left, and senior guard Haley Montgomery, below right, have been named to the 7A-Central all-conference team by the coaches of the conference. In addition, Montgomery was named to the Class 7A All-State Tournament team. (Photos by Rick Nation) 

BRYANT LADY HORNETS

2009-2010 basketball schedule

24-5, 11-3

By Rob Patrick

“You know, 30 years ago when I started coaching, the coaches did all the taping,” recalled Bryant athletic director Tom Farmer. “If there was an injury, we’d go out and say, all right, put some ice on it, and move on.”

The other variation of that scenario is the classic (exaggerated, of course) instance when a coach would be looking down on an injured player and saying something like, “Okay, rub a little dirt on it and let’s go.” Then helping the player up.

But times have changed. With the advances in medicine and health care in a broad array of fields, a little more expertise is called for. And more and more, public schools are following the lead of colleges and professional athletics by making sure there’s an athletic trainer available.

Bryant, as Farmer related, is one of those schools.

By Rob Patrick

VAN BUREN — Seniors Kenzee Calley, Hannah Goshien, Shanika Johnson, Haley Montgomery, Alana Morris and Brooke Parish put the Bryant Lady Hornets back on the statewide basketball map over the last two years.

For three seasons between 2004-05 — when Rhonda Hall and the Grappe triplets (Ashley, Amanda and Allison) led the team to State — and last season, the Lady Hornets were unable to reach the State tournament. While that’s not a long drought by some standards, for the the Lady Hornet's program, it was a rare thing indeed. Consider that the 2004-05 trip to State was the first time the program didn’t advance dating back to the 1970’s (as best as can be determined).

This season, the Lady Hornets won 24 games, the most since the 1998-99 team went 24-6. The last time a Lady Hornets team won more than 24 was in 1995-96 when the team posted a 26-8 mark.

This year’s win over Fort Smith Northside on Thursday was the first State tourney win for a Lady Hornets team since March 4, 2003, when that year’s team defeated Jonesboro 59-53. In their next game, the 2002-03 version of the Lady Hornets were knocked out of the tourney in a quarterfinal game against Northside. So Thursday’s win was long-awaited revenge.

It was a win also that got the Lady Hornets to the semifinals for the first time since that 1995-96 team lost in the State championship game.

This year, the team’s bid to match that, however, fell short on Saturday afternoon when the defending Class 7A State champion Fayetteville Lady Bulldogs ended their season with a 73-45 loss.

By Rob Patrick

VAN BUREN — The Bryant Lady Hornets are a win away from playing for a State championship.

Though, in a 32-minute game, they led for about two minutes, 1:21 of that came at the end when Kenzee Calley converted four free throws. The first two snapped a 54-54 tie. The last two sealed a 58-54 win over the Fort Smith Northside Lady Bears at Clair Bates Arena on Thursday night.

Now 24-4, the Lady Hornets are set to play defending Class 7A State champion Fayetteville in the semifiinals on Saturday at noon. The Lady Bulldogs, the regular-season champions of the 7A-West (their lone league loss was at Northside), advanced to the semifinals with a 62-34 win over Fort Smith Southside on Thursday.

Bryant’s winning surge was sparked initially by point guard Haley Montgomery, who had kept her team in the game most of the way. Her 3-pointer with 4:11 left gave her 24 points for the game including 5 of 6 from 3-point range. It cut into the Lady Bears’ 7-point lead.

And, as it turned out, Bryant held Northside scoreless for the final 4:25 of the game.