PEARCY — The Bryant Lady Hornets freshman team will play for the championship of the annual Kameron Hale Invitational Tournament at Lake Hamilton High School on Friday at 4 p.m., after a 42-23 romp over Mena on Thursday. Bryant will face Lake Hamilton for the title, a rematch of two Central Arkansas Junior High Conference rivals. On Nov. 28, the Lady Hornets went to Lake Hamilton and beat the Lady Wolves, 41-33.
Against Mena, the Lady Hornets blew the game up early with a 21-2 first-quarter.
“I’m very proud of our girls today,” said Bryant coach Nathan Castaldi. “There was a bad accident on the interstate so we got stuck in some traffic and, basically, got off the bus and played. I was worried that we would come out flat but we came out the first quarter and played really well.
“We pressured Mena into a bunch of turnovers and converted them with some easy buckets,” he continued. “When we didn’t get layups off our defense, Mena played a zone defense and tried to take away the inside. We shot the ball well for the outside with Tierra (Trotter) hitting three 3-pointers and Lexi (Taylor) hitting one.”
Trotter finished with 17 points in the game. Taylor and Ivory Russ each added 8. Tiyanna Robinson and Celena Martin scored 4 each with Jada Deaton and Natalie Harlee contributing 2 apiece.
Bryant, now 10-2, led 31-13 by halftime and held a 40-18 advantage going into the fourth quarter.
