Lady Hornets bound for State
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 continue posting 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
BENTON — It wasn’t supposed to be so hard when the Bryant Lady Hornets, trying to notch their 20th win of the season, met the Benton Lady Panthers, who were trying to avoid their 20th loss.
But the old chiche held true. The records didn’t matter as the teams met at Benton Arena Tuesday, Feb. 19. And it took a late surge by the Lady Hornets for them to overcome the pesky Lady Panthers 43-34.
The Lady Hornets improved to 9-4 in the AAAAA-South Conference to go with their 20-6 overall mark. Thanks to Pine Bluff’s 29-27 win over Lake Hamilton on Tuesday, the Lady Hornets stand alone in second place with only the last-placed El Dorado Lady Wildcats in the way of sewing up the No. 2 seed to the Class AAAAA State Tournament in Fort Smith next week.
The game was tied at 32 when Benton’s Tiffany Gwatney hit a driving jumper with 5:51 left in the game. But that was the last field goal of the contest for the Lady Panthers (4-20). In fact, they only scored 2 more points and those came on free throws in the final minute of the game. By then, the Lady Hornets had secured the victory with an 11-0 run.
Senior Bree Mann scored a game-high 18 points and rebounded in double digits as well. Jennifer Slack added 13 as both stepped up at crunch time.
After Gwatney tied it, Slack drilled a 15-foot jumper to put the Lady Hornets back on top. Bryant got the ball back when Rachel Blakley’s glue-like defense enticed an offensive foul from Gwatney.
An offensive rebound basket by Mann made it a two-possession game with 4:46 to go. That, in itself, was a rare thing for this contest which was tied six times in the second half.
After a Benton miss, Slack banked in a jumper for the wing. Moments later, Blakley made a steal that led to a layup by Mann. With 2:12 left, Blakley hit a free throw to make it 41-32. Yousra Elhagemoussa then swiped a pass and Mann was fouled with 1:52 left. She converted twice to make it 43-32.
A second steal by Elhagemoussa enabled the Lady Hornets to whittle time off the clock — enough that the downtrodden Lady Panthers had no time to make up the ground.
It had looked like the Lady Hornets would be in control early. They took a 6-4 lead on a 3-pointer by Slack midway through the first quarter as part of a 12-2 run. Mann, who scored 7 points in the first quarter, capped the blitz with a nice post-up move for a bucket early in the second period.
But the Lady Hornets went into the first of a couple of dead spots offensively as Benton rallied. In the final minute, Kellie Ketchum hit a 3-pointer and Jodie Scott dropped in two free throws so the Lady Panthers trailed just 20-17 at the half.
In the third quarter, Bryant’s offensive output was restricted to two layups by Slack, both coming off steals, and a pair of free throws by Elhagemoussa.
Bryant led 22-19 before Crowson came through with a three-point play to tie it and Hope Hannah made a steal that led to a Crowson layup to give the Lady Panthers a 24-22 lead.
Elhagemoussa tied it with a pair of free throws with 4:50 left in the third quarter then neither team could score for the longest time. There was just 2:07 left when Slack swiped a pass and drove the distance for her second layup of the period. With 1:57 left, Crowson hit a short jumper in the lane to tie it at 26 and that was it for the third quarter.
Back and forth it went early in the fourth period until the Lady Hornets put together their decisive surge.
