Lady Hornets improve to 6-1
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
BRYANT TIMES
Ten days after producing the most points in a game by a Bryant Lady Hornets team since 2005, they topped themselves.
Eighteen girls played and 15 of them scored as the Lady Hornets rolled to a 71-32 romp over the Hamburg Lady Lions at the BHS gym on Friday, Dec. 7, improving their record to 6-1 going into the final week of their pre-holiday schedule. Rematches against first-week victims, Sheridan and Benton, were set on Tuesday, Dec. 11, and Friday, Dec. 14, respectively.
A relatively easy win was welcomed by Bryant head coach Blake Condley.
“We played a couple of games the last week or so that were ugly wins which we’ll take and we played pretty well and lost to Lake Hamilton,” he reminded. “I wanted to see a good all-around game and see the girls come together.”
And that they did from the outset, piling up 21 points in the first quarter then trumping that with 25 more in the second as they amassed a 46-26 advantage with scoring from 10 different players against Hamburg’s zone defense.
“It was good for us to go against a zone and I feel like we attacked it pretty well,” Condley said. “We’ve been working on it. It’s something we’ve struggled with but I really felt like we passed the ball, we cut well and we did what we wanted to against that zone.”
Alana Morris led the Lady Hornets with 11 points. Hannah Goshien and Anna Simpson added 9 each, Taylor Hughes and Haley Montgomery 6 apiece.
The game was tied at 11 midway through the first period when Morris hit the offensive glass for a basket that put the Lady Hornets ahead to stay. Bryant forced a flurry of turnovers with their press and went on a 10-2 run to end the quarter. Hughes forced a turnover that Lindsey Cason turned into points. Hughes made another theft and cashed in herself to make it 17-11 and force a Hamburg timeout.
But when play resumed, Jasmine Carter made a steal that led to a driving layup by Morris. After two free throws by Hamburg’s Myra Evans, Simpson hit a driving jumper to make it 21-13 going into the second quarter.
Montgomery hit a 3 to continue the Bryant blitz at the outside of the new period. Tiffany Sullivan, who led Hamburg with 12 points, converted a free throw but Morris fed Cason for a layup and Goshien buried a 3-pointer to make it 29-14.
After Hamburg’s Larhonda Singleton interrupted with a bucket, Courtney Mosley canned a jumper, Montgomery took a charge, Carter hit a free throw and Simpson hit a layup off a sweet give-and-go with Morris. When Goshien nailed a 15-foot jumper with 3:44 left in the half, Bryant’s lead was up to 20, 36-16.
Sullivan started the second half scoring with a free throw but Morris drained a 3 and made a steal that led to an offensive-rebound basket by Amber Westbrook. Morris drove for a layup and Montgomery hit another triple to make it 56-27 midway through the third quarter which ended with Bryant up 60-32 and reserves filtering into the game.
Kenzee Calley, Syieatta Johnson, Brooke Parish and Shanika Johnson added to the scoring as the lead ballooned to 35 and the mercy rule was engaged. Late baskets by Shanika Johnson and Olivia Ruple set the final score with Hamburg going scoreless in the final 9:45 of the game.
