PEARCY — The Bryant Lady Hornets freshman team and the Benton Lady Panthers freshman team will meet for the first time this season in the second round of the Kameron Hale Memorial Invitational Tournament at Lake Hamilton on Thursday, Dec. 31.
Both teams brushed aside first-round opponents on Wednesday. Benton downed Central Arkansas Christian and the Lady Hornets drilled the Malvern Lady Leopard Cubs, 40-23.[more]
They’ll meet in a 3 p.m. game on Thursday with the winning advancing to the championship game on Saturday at 5:30. The loser will play in the third-place game at 3.
McKenzie Adams scored 19 points to lead the Lady Hornets on Wednesday. McKenzie Rice, Kiara Moore and Whitney Meyer each added 4, Logan Davis 3 and Lauren Buck and Courtney Davidson 3 each.
Bryant built a 10-6 lead by the end of the first quarter and held a 20-14 advantage at the half. By the end of the third quarter, the lead had ballooned to 34-21 then the Lady Hornets allowed just 2 points in the final period.
“We were a little bit worried about how we would come out,” said Bryant coach Eric Andrews who’s recovering from a bout of pneumonia. “It had been 15 days since we played last. And we did, we came out pretty flat. We were able to score 20 points in the first half but our defense wasn’t as strong as we like it to be.
“After we calmed down, in the second half, we finally got that first half behind us and got, basically, warmed up, got the rust knocked off, we looked a whole lot better,” he added. “In the third quarter, we were able to put the game out of reach.”
The win improved the Lady Hornets to 12-0 on the season.
"I didn't get to see Benton play today but they must've played really well," Andrews said. "I know their last several games they've been playing well defensively, holding their opponents to less than 20 points a game. So, we're going to have to come out ready to play. Of course, any time we play Benton you can throw all the records out the window. If we get off to slow start like we did today, there's no telling what might happen."
