Lady Hornets dispatch Lady Warriors with ease
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
It may not look like it, judging from the final, but the ‘mercy rule’ — running the clock continuously except for timeouts and injuries — was engaged with 3:31 still to play in the third quarter of the Bryant Lady Hornets’ 56-42 win over the Little Rock Hall Lady Warriors on Tuesday, Feb. 10.
Led by Allison Grappe’s 15 points, the Lady Hornets had rolled up a 41-11 lead by that time. After that, all 17 Bryant players got into the game.
Hall, with only 10 players to start with, had 17 points going into the fourth quarter, but made the final score look a little more respectable with a 25-point quarter as Bryant head coach Rhonda Hall tried to get all her players in the game.
It was no contest from the start as the Lady Hornets continued their splendid play of late. Amanda Grappe, the team’s leading scorer on the season, scored the first 4 points of the game by going to the offensive boards.
Hall’s Tamika Turner scored inside with 5:07 left in the first quarter, then the Lady Warriors were shut out until nearly a full quarter later when, with 5:23 left in the half, Victoria Overton scored.
In the meantime, both Allison Grappe and Ashley Grappe burned the Hall zone with 3-pointers. Ashley added a jumper from the corner after Amanda and Bridgette McPeak combined to force a turnover and Megan Kennedy pitched in with a pair of free throws and an assist on a layup by Ashley Grappe which made it 16-2 with 7:38 left in the half.
After Overton’s basket, Hall was only able to add a free throw over the next five minutes and the lead ballooned to 32-5.
Again, Ashley and Allison Grappe contributed 3-pointers to the run. Allison also absorbed a charge that led to a layup by Yousra Elhagemoussa.
A last-second layup by Hall’s Che’Naida Bozeman made it 32-7 at the half.
Bozeman wound up with 18 points in the game with 12 of those coming in the fourth quarter as the Lady Warriors pressed and trapped Bryant’s reserves to whittle the huge margin down.
A 3-pointer by Kennedy and a layup by Liz Farish off a feed from McPeak had Bryant up 46-17 going into the fourth quarter. A three-point play by Robin Speake to start the fourth quarter gave Bryant its 30-point advantage again.
Down the stretch, the Lady Hornets got a free throw from Jessie Sutton, a couple of baskets by Kaci Melhorn and another by Farish to help preserve the victory.
