LITTLE ROCK — Three-point gunner Macey Jaramillo got hot in the second half and the Bryant Lady Hornets freshman team ratcheted up the defense to forge a come-from-behind 29-25 win at Mount St. Mary Academy Monday night.
Jaramillo hit three 3-pointers in the second half and four in the game on the way to 14 points. Her fourth 3 came with about two minutes left in the game and gave the Lady Hornets a 6-point edge. The Mounties rallied to cut the lead to 1 with 30 seconds left but Kendal Rogers converted three free throws after that to seal the victory.
Destiny Martin added 7 points, Rogers 6 and Lania Ratliff 2.
Defensively, the Lady Hornets allowed just 2 points in the third quarter to enable them to battle back to tie the game 15-15 going into the final stanza.
The two teams had engaged in a defensive battle in their previous meeting at Bryant with Mount extracting an 11-7 win on Dec. 16.
On Monday, the Mounties led 9-4 after the first quarter and held a 13-10 lead at intermission.
“They are bigger than us at just about every spot and, in the first half, we seemed to struggle with this and how physical they were,” noted Lady Hornets coach Nathan Castaldi. “We also did not do a good job of executing our game plan, especially on the defensive end. Out of their 13 points at the half, 8 came off of uncontested layups because of mental breakdowns.
“We talked at half about doing a better job of carrying out our game plan and making them earn everything in the second half, which we did,” he added. “I cannot say enough about Riley (Hill), Kendal and Lania on the defensive side. All three get stuck guarding bigger players and they battle every game. I think a lot of teams go into games trying to get the ball inside because we do not have the size of other teams but those three girls make it very difficult for them to score.
“Offensively we were much better the second half about making the extra pass,” the coach related.
That helped open space for Jaramillo to get her shots, Castaldi noted.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Lady Hornets who improved to 10-12 overall and 3-4 in the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference. They will close out the regular season on Thursday at home against Conway Blue. The league’s post-season tournament begins Monday, Feb. 17, in Conway.
