The Bryant Lady Hornets freshman teams held the Magnolia Lady Panthers to four free throws in the first half and one field goal in the second half Monday night and cruised to a 47-6 win in the opening round of the annual Bryant Invitational Tournament at the Bryant High School gym.
The Lady Hornets advance to play the rival Benton Lady Panthers in the semifinals tonight at 7:15 p.m., with a bid to the tourney finals on Thursday on the line.
In the other semifinal, Hot Springs Lakeside, a 39-28 winner over Conway White will take on Hot Springs, which had a bye in the first round.
Bryant head coach Nathan Castaldi got 14 players in the game in the first half and 16 in the game. Ten of them contributed to the scoring. The starting five combined for 35 points led by Ivory Russ with 8. Tierra Trotter, Celina Martin and Lexi Taylor each scored 7 and McKinzie Muse 6. Off the bench, Maddie Thompson led with 4 points. Tyianna Robinson added 3. Jada Deaton and Kinley Oholendt scored 2 apiece and Sierra Trotter hit a free throw.
Bryant’s opening blitz reached 19-0 before Magnolia scored on a free throw. A three-point play off a steal by Martin started the opening salvo. Tierra Totter drained a 3 then Russ made a steal and fed Taylor for a layup. All of that came in the first minute and forced a Magnolia timeout.
Russ got her first basket following her own miss then Tierra Trotter made a steal and layup to make it 12-0. Russ hit two free throws and followed up with a theft and a feed to Taylor for another easy deuce.
Robinson’s steal led to a trip to the line for Martin, where she converted once. Trotter made another steal and missed but stole the ball again and hit a layup to make it 19-0.
The free throw interrupted before Muse scored inside. Two more free throws made it 21-3 but Deaton’s short jumper and an 8-footer from Muse extended the margin to 25-3 at the end of the first quarter.
Reserves played the second quarter for Bryant and there was little drop-off on the defensive end, though Castaldi called off the press. The Lady Panthers managed one free throw in the period.
Meanwhile, Thompson drove the baseline for a basket and Oholendt scored off the offensive glass as she was fouled. Another drive to the rack by Thompson made it 31-4 at the half.
Magnolia’s only field goal of the game came in the first minute of the third quarter and it proved to be the last time the Lady Panthers scored.
After starting the game with a 19-0 surge, the Lady Hornets ended it with a 16-0 run. The sportsmanship rule went into effect at the start of the fourth quarter with Bryant leading 46-6. The only scoring of the abbreviated fourth period was a free throw by Robinson inside the first minute.
LADY HORNETS 47, LADY PANTHERS 6
Score by quarter
Magnolia 3 1 2 0 — 6
BRYANT 25 6 15 1 — 47
LADY PANTHERS 6
Smith 0-2 0-0 0, Whaley 0-2 2-3 2, Jones 0-4 1-2 1, Purifoy 1-8 1-2 3, Wyrick 0-0 0-0 0, Hayes 0-1 0-0 0, Davis 0-1 0-0 0, French 0-2 0-0 0, Broomfield 0-0 0-0 0, Manning 0-0 0-0 0, Martin 0-0 0-0 0, Turner 0-0 0-0 0, Juniel 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 1-21 4-7 6.
LADY HORNETS 47
T.Trotter 3-5 0-0 7, C.Martin 2-4 3-5 7, Taylor 3-4 0-0 7, Muse 3-5 0-0 6, Russ 3-6 2-2 8, Robinson 1-1 1-4 3, Scifres 0-0 0-0 0, S.Trotter 0-4 1-2 1, J.Deaton 1-3 0-0 2, Baker 0-2 0-0 0, Thompson 2-5 0-0 4, Oholendt 1-1 0-1 2, Scott 0-2 0-0 0, Williams 0-0 0-0 0, N.Deaton 0-1 0-0 0, Allen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-43 7-14 47.
Three-point field goals: Bryant 2-6 (T.Trotter 1-1, Taylor 1-1, S.Trotter 0-2, Thompson 0-2), Magnolia 0-4 (Jones 0-2, Davis 0-1, Juniel 0-1). Turnovers: Bryant 15, Magnolia 26. Rebounds: Bryant 18-16 34 (J.Deaton 1-3 4, Baker 3-1 4, Thompson 0-3 3, Russ 3-0 3, S.Trotter 1-2 3, Scott 1-1 2, C.Martin 1-0 1, Taylor 1-0 1, Robinson 0-1 1, Oholendt 1-0 1, team 4-5 9), Magnolia 5-9 14 (Purifoy 1-4 5, Smith 2-1 3, Whaley 0-1 1, Wyrick 0-1 1, French 1-0 1, Manning 0-1 1, team 1-1 2). Team fouls: Bryant 13, Magnolia 11.
