By Rob Patrick
Photos by Kevin Nagle
CONWAY — There’s not much difference in a lot of the girls teams, clustered in the middle of[more] the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference standings. One just seems to match up better against another.
For instance, the Bryant Lady Hornets freshman team matches up well against the Lake Hamilton Lady Wolves, resulting in two wins in three meetings this season. On the other hand, the Lady Hornets don’t match up well with the Conway White Lady Wampus Cats, who defeated Bryant for the third time this season on Thursday night, 33-16.
All three teams now have two league losses. On Monday, Bryant and Conway White will take on co-leaders Cabot South and Cabot North, respectively.
Conway White’s length and athleticism, particularly on defense, frustrated the Lady Hornets who, in turn, stayed in the game for a long time with their own defensive effort.
The Lady Cats’ opened with an 8-2 run that was keyed by their rebounding. Their first three baskets came off of the offensive boards. Bryant’s lone basket came inside by Britney Sahlmann off a nice feed from Kailey Nagle and the run was interrupted by Annie Patton’s eight-foot jumper from the short corner against Conway’s trapping 1-3-1 zone.
Dalia Brown hit a 3, however, which started what eventually turned into a 9-0 run that took until midway through the second quarter to complete. The Lady Hornets were stifled until Sahlmann hit a free throw and Anna Turpin grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to make it 17-7 at the half.
Neither team would allow much in the third period. Savannah Lowe hit a layup for Conway but then Anna Lowery scored inside off a nifty assist by Sahlmann. India Lattimore, who scored 10 of her 11 points in the first half, knocked down a free throw but when Sahlmann converted twice at the other end, the Lady Hornets, despite their struggles, were within 20-11 with 2:05 left.
But that’s as close as they’d get. In fact, they didn’t score again until Hailey Gentry fired in a 3-pointer with 1:24 left in the game.
By that time, Conway White had built the lead up to 31-11, again in fits and starts against Bryant’s active defense.
Taylor Hill would add two free throws for the Lady Hornets in the final seconds to set the ultimate score.
Sahlmann fininshed with 5 points and five rebounds. Skylar Davis led the team with six boards. Along with Gentry’s 3, Lowery, Turpin, Patton and Hill had 2 points each.
The Lady Hornets are now 9-11 overall and 2-2 in league play.
CONWAY WHITE 33, BRYANT 16
Score by quarters
BRYANT 4 3 4 5 — 16
Conway White 13 4 10 6 — 33
LADY HORNETS 16
Davis 0-7 0-0 0, Lowery 1-4 0-0 2, Nagle 0-0 0-0 0, Sahlmann 1-5 3-4 5, Turpin 1-4 0-0 2, Patton 1-3 0-0 2, Keith 0-0 0-0 0, Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Moser 0-0 0-0 0, Reeves 0-2 0-0 0, Hill 0-0 2-2 2, McKnight 0-0 0-0 0, Bullington 0-0 0-0 0, Gentry 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 5-27 5-6 16.
LADY WAMPUS CATS 33
Lowe 3-12 1-1 7, Foster 1-4 0-2 2, Lattimore 5-10 1-2 11, Brown 0-4 0-0 0, Estes 2-6 2-2 7, Thomas 0-3 0-0 0, Ingraham 1-1 0-0 2, Smith 1-3 0-0 2, Mitchell 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 14-45 4-7 33.
Three-point field goals: Bryant 1-8 (Gentry 1-1, Davis 0-6, Lowery 0-1), Conway White 1-12 (Estes 1-3, Brown 0-4, Lowe 0-3, Smith 0-1, Mitchell 0-1). Rebounds: Bryant 25 (Davis 6, Sahlmann 5), Conway White 29 (Estes 6). Turnovers: Bryant 20, Conway White 9. Team fouls: Bryant 6, Conway White 13.
