FAYETTEVILLE — The rim had a lid on it for just about everybody on the court except Springdale Har-Ber’s Pacious McDaniel.
She scored 32 of her team’s 46 points, 32 points to the Bryant Lady Hornets’ 35 as a team. She hit 11 of 16 shots from the field, 10 of 17 at the free-throw line. The rest of the players in the game for both teams combined shot 13 free throws. Bryant was 4 of 12 as a team.
The rest of Har-Ber’s team shot 6 of 33 from the field (18 percent) including 2 of 21 from 3-point range.
As a team, Bryant shot 28 percent from the field (13 of 47). Yet, with 1:40 left to play, the Lady Hornets were down just 38-35.
But Bryant did not score the rest of the game. They had a chance with 1:38 to go when Har-Ber’s Mary Blake Martfeld missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity at the line. But the rebound was tapped around and wound up being scooped up near midcourt by Har-Ber’s Claire Bowden.
Moments later, she scored to make it a two-possession game. And, in the end, McDaniel closed out her big game with the last 6 points to make the final look a lot bigger than the game would indicate.
“I thought we got beat today because they were tougher,” said Lady Hornets head coach Brad Matthews. “McDaniel is really good. But there wasn’t anything she did that we hadn’t prepped for the last two or three days. There’s a reason she does that against a lot of teams besides just us.”
With McDaniel’s 32 points, she had 10 rebounds. Bowden finished with 12 points and Ella Nelson had 2. No one else for the Lady Wildcats scored.
“It was very similar to the Central game,” Matthews mentioned, referring to his team’s final regular-season game against Little Rock Central, a 58-47 decision in which the margin was just 3 late. “We were right there with two or three minutes to go and the other team was able to make plays, making an open shot, getting an offensive rebound. We gave up a free-throw block out, had a chance for a loose ball.
“At the end of the day, when it’s March, winning teams find ways to make plays,” he related. “For a variety of reasons, we didn’t make enough plays in the last two or three minutes.
“I thought our kids competed for the most part but you’ve got to make plays, especially down the stretch,” the coach concluded.
Perhaps the key stretch of the game, which Bryant led most of the way, was when McDaniel picked up her fourth foul and had to go to the bench with 3:24 left in the third quarter. At the time, the game was tied at 25.
When McDaniel returned to the game with 5:32 left in the fourth, the Lady Hornets led 30-29. They just didn’t make enough hay while the Har-Ber star was sidelined.
With 4:20 to go, McDnaiel hit two free throws to put her team up 31-30. A driving jumper by freshman point guard Brilynn Findley had Bryant up 32-31 but, an offensive-rebound basket by McDaniel, a charge against Bryant on a drive by Emileigh Muse, and a driving basket by McDaniel had Har-Ber ahead for good. The
Junior Parris Atkins, still hobbled somewhat by an ankle injury she suffered against Cabot on Feb. 26, managed 10 points and nine rebounds. Findley also had 10 points and Muse finished with 6 points and 10 boards.
Har-Ber led 6-3 early but the Lady Hornets responded with a 10-0 run. Atkins hit a free throw then took a feed from Natalie Edmonton and hit a layup to tie the game at 6.
After a timeout for Har-Ber, Muse came through with a three-point play and Lauren Lain made a steal that eventually led to her offensive-rebound basket to make it 11-6.
Bryant claimed a held ball and Atkins, following her own miss, was fouled and converted both free throws to make it 13-6.
The Lady Hornets had a chance to push the run further after Har-Ber’s Ella Nelson missed a shot. But McDaniel made a steal and turned it into points to end her team’s drought.
After Atkins missed a pair at the free-throw line, Bowden ended the quarter with one of her team’s two triples to cut Bryant’s lead to 13-11.
McDaniel scored the first two baskets of the second period but a driving jumper by Muse tied the game.
McDanield hit a layup then had four chances at the free-throw line to extend her team’s 17-15 lead and managed 2 points.
A steal by Lain led to a basket by Findley and after McDaniel missed two more free throws, Findley knocked down a 3 to put Bryant back on top 20-19.
A free throw by McDaniel with :22.8 left sent the game to intermissed knotted at 20.
Muse assisted on a basket by Atkins to start the third quarter and the Lady Hornets held the upper hand throughout the period. Lain hit a short jumper to make it 24-20.
McDaniel scored the next 5 points to put her team up 25-24 but then picked up her fourth foul and came out. Atkins tied it then made a steal and layup to give Bryant a 27-25 edge with 2:38 left in the quarter.
But all the Lady Hornets could add the rest of the period was a free throw by Muse as Har-Ber’s offense disappeared.
Bowden scored to start the fourth. Muse answered to make Bryant’s lead 30-27 at the 6:09 mark.
Bowden scored again and, moments later, McDaniel returned and scored 14 of her team’s last 17 points.
The game marked the end of the career of Bryant’s lone senior Lauryn Taylor. The rest of the Lady Hornets will return for 2021-22.
“You’ve got to keep growing,” Matthews said. “Just because you get older doesn’t mean you necessarily get better. We’ll have to go to work to get stronger, to get faster, to get more skilled, to get tougher.
“That’s what we talked about in the locker room, ‘How bad does this hurt you to lose?’ And what you do the next six, eight months will answer that question.”
LADY WARRIORS 46, LADY HORNETS 35
Score by quarters
BRYANT 13 7 8 7 — 35
Har-Ber 11 9 5 21 — 46
LADY HORNETS (13-11) 35
Lain 2-3 0-1 4, Atkins 3-17 4-9 10, Edmonton 1-4 0-0 3, Finley 4-13 0-0 10, Muse 3-8 0-0 6, Taylor 0-1 0-0 0, Knight 0-1 0-2 0. Totals: 13-47 (28%) 4-12 (33%) 35.
LADY WARRIORS (13-12) 46
Hambelton 0-2 0-0 0, Andrew 0-6 0-0 0, McCrackin 0-10 0-0 0, Nelson 1-5 0-0 2, McDaniel 11-16 10-17 32, Bowden 5-10 0-0 12, Stubbs 0-0 0-0 0, McClure 0-0 0-0 0, Martfeld 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 17-49 (35%) 10-18 (56%) 46.
Three-point field goals: Bryant 3-14 (Finley 2-5, Edmonton 14, Atkins 0-3, Muse 0-3), Springdale Har-Ber 2-21 (Bowden 2-6, McCrackin 0-9, Andrew 0-5, Hambelton 0-1). Turnovers: Bryant 13, Springdale Har-Ber 15. Rebounds: Bryant 9-25 34 (Muse 4-6 10, Atkins 2-7 9, Lain 2-5 7, Edmonton 0-2 2, Finley 0-1 1, Taylor 1-0 1, Knight 0-1 1, team 0-3 3), Springdale Har-Ber 11-29 40 (McDaniel 4-6 10, Nelson 3-4 7, Martfeld 1-4 5, Stubbs 1-2 3, Bowden 1-2 3, McCrackin 1-2 3, Andrew 0-3 3, Hambelton 0-2 2, team 0-4 4). Team fouls: Bryant 17, Springdale Har-Ber 15. Fouled out: Bryant, Lain.
