LITTLE ROCK — The Bryant Lady Hornets freshman team evened its Central Arkansas Junior High Conference record at 2-2 on Monday night with a well-earned 27-16 victory over the Mount St. Mary Academy Mounties in the McCauley Center.
“We did a good job of playing in a tough environment,” said Lady Hornets coach Nathan Castaldi, referring to the old chapel turned into a gym that is McCauley, the acoustics of which make it difficult to communicate. “We tell the girls how difficult it is to play at Mount St. Mary’s gym, but I don’t think they understand until they get over there.”
The Lady Hornets adjusted quickly, however, and built a 9-5 advantage by the end of the first quarter. It was 15-9 at the half.
“We came out and executed well to start the game,” said Castaldi. “Mount hit a shot at the buzzer, which gave them some momentum in the second quarter, but we responded well.
“The second half, they played a box-and-one against Parris and we did a good job of working the ball for an open shot for one of our other girls or getting Parris open inside.”
Bryant held a 20-11 lead at the end of the third quarter.
“Our defense was much better the second half,” Castaldi related. “While Mount did not score a lot the first half, we gave them some open shots and put them on the free-throw line too many times.
“The second half, we did a better job of containing the basketball and making them shoot over us,” he noted.
Parris Atkins led the team with 12 points. Daria Greer added 8 with V’Mya Palmer and Caitlin LaCerra scoring 4 each.
“I was pruod of our post players and how they play against Mount’s zone,” Castaldi said. “V’Mya was able to get some easy buckets against the zone off nice feeds from (posts) Emma Chappell and Reagan Dillon.
Now 7-7 overall, the Lady Hornets host Cabot North this Thursday.
