Lady Hornets subdue Lady Cyclones, prepare for stretch of key games
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continueposting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
By Rob Patrick
The Bryant Lady Hornets have now beaten the teams they’re absolutely supposed to beat if they plan on being contenders for the 7A-Central Conference championship. They completed the three-game sweep of the league’s lower division with a convincing 62-42 win over a young Russellville Lady Cyclones team on Friday night. Now, they’ll start really testing their 3-0 league mark anf 15-1 overall slate as they take on the top rivals for the league title in a four-game succession beginning with a trip to Conway on Tuesday, a home match-up with Cabot on Friday then games at North Little Rock (17-0 after Friday) and Little Rock Central the next week.
On Friday, Bryant opened the game with a 15-4 run to gain the upper hand then opened the second half with a 13-0 blitz to blow the game up.
Four players reached double figures in scoring, led by Shanika Johnson’s 13 which including a trio of 3-pointers. Haley Montgomery and Hannah Goshien added 12 each and Alana Morris 11 to with three or four assists or near assists on passes that elicited “wows” from some of the visiting spectators. Kenzee Calley collected a game-high nine rebounds, Morris had eight and Abbi Stearns six.[more]
Everybody eventually got into the game for Bryant.
“I thought we came out early, playing hard, playing well, defensively and offensively,” said Lady Hornets head coach Blake Condley. “I felt like we shot the ball pretty well, we shared the ball well. We had the four girls in double figures and that’s kind of our trademark. That’s what we’ve got to do to be successful. I was really proud of the effort.”
Russellville’s only lead of the night was 2-0 on a quick basket by Tinisha Broadnax. Bryant got on the board after a steal by Stearns and a layup by Goshien off an assist from Morris.
Montgomery put the Lady Hornets up for good with a pair of free throws with 6:08 left in the opening quarter.
After a free throw by Jaimie Long for Russellville, the Lady Hornets’ early surge began with an offensive-rebound bucket for Goshien. Stearns hit a layup then Montgomery took a kick-out pass from Goshien and flushed a 3 to make it 11-3.
After a Russellville timeout used in hopes of stemming the tide, Johnson made a steal, got the ball to Montgomery who, in turn, drove and kicked to Brooke Parish who nailed a 15-footer to make it 13-3.
Long hit a free throw but, in not time, the Lady Hornets were up the floor and Goshien was hitting a layup to complete the 15-4 run.
Bryant led 17-8 going into the second quarter with Stearns connecting on a tough fall-away jumper from the right baseline to beat the buzzer.
Montgomery kept the scoring pressure on the Cyclones with her second triple to start the second quarter.
Though Russellville trimmed the lead to 8, a spree by Johnson helped re-extend the Bryant advantage. Johnson knocked down a jumper from just inside the 3-point arc then hit a driving jumper in the lane. After a basket by Russellville’s Kaylee Wiedower, Johnson tossed in a trey to make it 27-14.
Bryant led 32-18 after Goshien stuck a 3 with :52 left in the half but Russellville’s Sarah Prochazka got a running jumper to drop at the buzzer.
Bryant’s second half blitz began with a three-point play by Morris. She followed up with a steal and a layup. And when Goshien completed a three-point play, moments later, the lead was up to 20. Russellville turned the ball over and Montgomery found Morris for a basket inside. After a Russellville timeout, the Lady Cyclones got two chances to score their first second-half points in the game but couldn’t get shots to fall. A fact that made Johnson’s 3 with 5:09 left in the third quarter hurt all the more as Bryant’s advantage increased to 45-20.
Russellville, gamely, trimmed the margin to 51-32 by the end of the third quarter and when Lindsey Glover scored to start the final period, the lead was down to 17.
Montgomery got the Lady Hornets going again with a hoop. Parish hit the offensive glass and earned a trip to the line where she converted twice. Calley drove the baseline for a bucket and it was 57-34.
Bryant’s largest lead was 62-36 with 3:22 left in the game. Johnson had hit her third trey and Morris scored to reach that mark. The reserves filtered from there but they only allowed the Lady Cyclones to get it back to 20 by the end of the game.
Russellville dropped to 8-8 overall, 0-3 in league play going into a home game against Van Buren on Tuesday.
LADY HORNETS 62, LADY CYCLONES 42
Score by quarters
Russellville 8 12 12 10 — 42
BRYANT 17 15 19 11 — 62
LADY CYCLONES (8-8, 0-3) 42
Player fg-fga ft-fta reb fls pts
o-d-t
Broadnax 1-2 0-0 0-5 5 2 2
Taylor 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 1 0
Long 3-8 3-8 2-2 4 0 9
Campbell 0-4 0-0 0-1 1 1 0
Glover 3-10 2-4 4-1 5 2 8
Shockey 3-7 0-0 3-5 8 2 6
Wiedower 2-7 0-0 0-0 0 2 4
Regier 3-5 2-2 2-1 3 1 8
Prochazka 2-5 1-5 1-1 2 1 5
Ward 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Prewett 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 0 0
Team 2-2 4
Totals 17-49 8-19 14-21 35 12 42
LADY HORNETS (15-1, 3-0) 62
Player fg-fga ft-fta reb fls pts
o-d-t
Montgomery 3-4 4-4 2-1 3 3 12
Goshien 5-9 1-1 2-0 2 2 12
Calley 2-8 0-0 4-5 9 1 4
Stearns 3-8 0-0 2-4 6 2 6
Morris 5-9 1-2 0-8 8 2 11
Johnson 5-11 0-0 0-3 3 3 13
Parish 1-2 2-2 2-0 2 1 4
Lee 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 1 0
Neal 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Abernathy 0-2 0-0 0-1 1 0 0
Ball 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Barker 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Sory 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Hogancamp 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Team 1-1 2
Totals 24-57 8-9 14-23 37 17 62
Three-point field goals: Russellville 0-2 (Shockey 0-1, Prewett 0-1), Bryant 6-16 (Johnson 3-6, Montgomery 2-2, Goshien 1-5, Morris 0-1, Neal 0-1, Abernathy 0-1). Turnovers: Russellville 19, Bryant 15.
