Bryant girls break 90 to outgun Conway
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
A week after scoring the most points in a game by a Lady Hornets team since 1997, the Bryant team eclipsed those 81 points in a high-octane 92-85 win over the defending Class 7A State champion Conway Lady Wampus Cats on Tuesday, Jan. 20.
The 81 the Lady Hornets scored against Van Buren the week before was the most since the 1997-98 team scored 96 in a win at a Thanksgiving tournament in Lovelady, Texas.
Against Conway, they needed just about every one of those 92 points too.
Even with just one starter back from its State championship team, Conway didn’t expect to be coming into the game with an 0-3 mark in the 7A-Central Conference. So the Lady Cats were playing with some urgency, trying to get out of the league cellar against the Lady Hornets who came in unbeaten in league play after winning just three conference games over the last two seasons.
Conway held the upper hand early but Bryant closed the first quarter with a rush and never relinquished the lead. In the third quarter, the margin ballooned to as much as 20 before the Lady Cats began whittling on it.
Eventually, Conway got the margin down to 2 only to have the Lady Hornets come through in the clutch.
“It’s good that we made some big runs early to stretch ourselves out a lead,” commented Lady Hornets coach Blake Condley. “That’s the thing I try to tell the girls, it’s a game of runs. We’ve just got to make our runs bigger than their runs. And that’s what we did tonight.
“I’m thinking of at least three different girls that hit shots at critical times, big shots when we really needed a bucket to kind of squash their momentum a little bit,” he added.[more]
Two of those girls were seniors Taylor Hughes and Anna Simpson for sure. Bryant’s advantage was 64-44 with 2:57 left in the third quarter and Conway, fueled by 6-2 Na’Dra Robertson, the lone returning player, sparked the initial Conway comeback, a 9-0 run.
But Hughes stemmed the tide with a drive into the lane, hitting the basket and drawing afoul. She converted the three-point play and before the period was over, took a feed from Haley Montgomery who had made a steal and hit another running jumper to make it 69-53 going into the final eight minutes.
But Robertson, who finished with 24 points and sophomore Taylor Gault, who slashed and popped for 36 points, kept the heat on. They scored the first 7 points of the fourth and had the Lady Cats within 69-60 when Simpson, who led Bryant with 19 points, stepped up and drained a clutch 3 to slow the momentum a bit.
But two baskets inside by Robertson and another pull-up jay by Gault trimmed the lead to 72-66 with 5:59 still to play.
Bryant’s Alana Morris (17 points) hit a free throw but two more baskets by Gault cut the lead to 3.
Hannah Goshien stepped to the line under the gun at the 4:57 mark and converted twice only to have Conway’s Meghan Lewis pump in her team’s only 3 of the game to make it 75-73.
Simpson answered with a pair of free throws and the Lady Hornets reasserted themselves defensively. A turnover led to Haley Montgomery’s fearless drive down the lane for a hoop despite being fouled.
In turn, Gault forced a shot and the Lady Hornets rushed back the other way with Morris taking it to the rack for a basket that made it 81-73.
The teams traded points after that for awhile at a frenetic pace. Jasmine Wilkins scored for Conway but Simpson nailed a 12-footer. Gault hit a pair of free throws but Kenzee Calley buried a baseline jumper. Gault drove to the hoop only to have Simpson answer in kind.
Conway could get no closer than 6 thanks to free throws by Hughes and Calley, a layup by Simpson off a nice feed from Shanika Johnson and, with :14.5 left, another free throw by Morris.
All five Lady Hornets starters scored in double figures. Goshien had 18, Hughes and Calley 11 each. Montgomery and Johnson, off the bench, had 9 and 7, respectively.
Conway’s largest lead in the game was 5 midway through the first quarter. A 3 by Goshien, who was 4 of 5 from long range, started Bryant’s run to the lead.
Robertson scored inside as the smaller Lady Hornets struggled to contend with her. But Morris drew the second foul of the game on the Conway center on the next trip, converting two free throws and sending Robertson to the bench for awhile.
After a pair of Conway misses, Montgomery drove for a bucket, Hughes made a steal and Calley scored to put the Lady Hornets up to stay 20-18. A steal by Goshien led to a layup by Montgomery with Simpson getting the assist.
Gault interrupted with a driving jumper but Calley’s hoop to beat the buzzer had Bryant up 24-20 going into the second period.
It was 26-24 early in the second when Goshien drilled another triple to start a Bryant run. She added two free throws after being fouled going for the carom off a Gault miss. Hughes made a steal that appeared to lead to a three-point opportunity for Simpson who threw in an off-balance shot but it was waved off when the officials ruled she had traveled.
Johnson, however, swiped the ball back and Hughes nailed a 3. Morris made yet another theft and fed Johnson for an easy deuce. Morris added a free throw and Goshien scored off a feed from Simpson and the lead was up to 39-24.
Robertson returned to steady the Lady Cats and they trimmed the margin to 41-32 before Morris beat the buzzer with a trey to give Bryant a 44-32 advantage at the half.
The teams traded baskets for much of the third quarter. With 4:22 left, Bryant’s lead was 56-42. The Lady Hornets then pushed it to 20 as Morris drove for a hoop and Simpson took advantage of a Conway turnover to drain an 18-footer. Montgomery and Simpson combined on a steal with Montgomery passing ahead to Hughes for a layup and it was 62-42.
LADY HORNETS 92, LADY CATS 85
Score by quarters
Conway 20 12 21 32 — 85
BRYANT 24 20 25 23 — 92
CONWAY (9-7, 0-4) 85
Player fg-fga ft-fta reb fls pts
o-d-t
Heard 2-5 4-8 3-10 13 5 8
Gault 17-28 2-2 3-2 5 1 36
Lewis 4-6 0-0 0-3 3 4 9
Wilkins 3-10 2-6 1-6 7 3 8
Robertson 10-15 4-4 2-6 8 4 24
McNeaill 0-2 0-0 1-0 1 1 0
Moore 0-0 0-0 2-1 3 1 0
Bowser 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Team reb. 2-1 3
Totals 36-67 12-20 14-29 43 19 85
BRYANT (13-2, 4-0) 92
Player fg-fga ft-ft reb fls pts
o-d-t
Hughes 4-6 2-3 0-1 1 5 11
Morris 5-13 5-8 0-6 6 2 17
Calley 4-10 3-4 2-3 5 0 11
Simpson 8-10 2-2 2-2 4 3 19
Goshien 5-7 4-4 1-3 4 3 18
Montgomery 4-9 0-1 1-1 2 5 9
Johnson 2-5 3-4 0-0 0 3 7
Team reb. 0-1 1
Totals 32-60 19-26 6-17 23 21 92
Three-point field goals: Bryant 9-19 (Goshien 4-5, Morris 2-3, Montgomery 1-4, Hughes 1-3, Simpson 1-1, Johnson 0-2, Calley 0-1), Conway 1-1 (Lewis 1-1). Turnovers: Bryant 15, Conway 20.
