Hot start launches Lady Hornets to 53-44 road conference win
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
Photos by Kevin Nagle
TEXARKANA — This time, it didn’t go down to the last shot. The Bryant Lady Hornets made[more] sure of that with a hot start that produced a double-digit lead before the first quarter was over. They eventually built as much as a 20-point lead on the way to a 53-44 victory over the Arkansas High Lady Razorbacks Friday night.
Now 2-3 in the 7A/6A-South Conference, two of the Lady Hornets’ league losses have come down to a last-second shot. The one that went lifted Pine Bluff to a 40-39 win on Jan. 8. The other, that didn’t go, left the Lady Hornets on the short end of a 42-41 decision against Sheridan just last Wednesday.
So the relative ease of Friday’s win was a welcome development.
“That’s a good win, a good road win,” acknowledged Lady Hornets head coach Brad Matthews.
The difference?
“We made shots,” he pointed out. “That makes a big difference. It gives you a little confidence. When you’re making shots, the defense is better, transition defense is better, rebounding is better. I thought you could see our kids gain confidence, especially through the first three quarters. I thought we played as well as we’ve played in quite a while.”
Bryant’s 3D attack produced 39 points and 23 rebounds. Dezerea Duckworth finished with 16 points and nine rebounds. Courtney Davidson added 13 points and eight boards while Logan Davis scored 10 points and collected six caroms. Davis provided an early spark with a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter.
The Lady Hornets got a big lift off the bench from sophomore Jayla Anderson. She finished with 9 points — 7 in the second half — and seven rebounds. Peyton Weaver hit a 3 and Whitney Meyer had a bucket off an offensive rebound to complete the scoring.
Texarkana’s Morgan Norwood scored 11 points and gathered 13 rebounds. Jasmine Allen finished with 10, Keondra Flemons 8 while Stacey Manley was held to 6, though she hauled down 10 boards.
“We got off to a good start shooting the ball,” Matthews said. “We defended. (Manley) is a really good player. I thought we did a good job on her. Some of their role players stepped up and made some shots in the fourth quarter.”
After going 1 of 12 from 3-point range in the first three quarters, the Lady Razorbacks hit 3 to spark their comeback in the fourth period.
“Give them credit,” Matthews stated. “They made some shots, got a little momentum and we didn’t finish it off the way we need to.
“I thought our kids competed,” he continued. “There’s still some things we’ve got to go back and fix. We’ve got to get better on the boards. I thought we gave up quite a few offensive rebounds but we were able to overcome that.”
Indeed, Texarkana out-rebounded the Lady Hornets 47-43 including a whopping 26 on the offensive end.
Obviously, there were plenty of rebounds to be had as the Lady Razorbacks went 18 of 67 from the field (27 percent) and 4 of 11 at the free-throw line so there were plenty of rebounds to be had.
Davis’ first triple got the Lady Hornets on the board with three minutes into the game. It gave her team a 3-2 lead but Norwood countered as Texarkana regained the edge.
But when Davis drained a second 3 to return the advantage to Bryant, it put the Lady Hornets ahead to stay.
Meyer’s basket off an offensive rebound was followed by Duckworth’s 3, making it 11-4.
After Baliyah Moore broke Texarkana’s silence, Duckworth drove for a basket, Anderson fed Davidson for a basket then made a steal and layup to extend the margin to 17-6 going into the second quarter.
The Lady Backs made a little headway in the second period, whittling the lead to 23-15 with 3:02 left in the half. Davidson, who scored 11 of her points in the second stanza, drove from the high post or posted up repeatedly and either scored or was fouled.
She did both with 2:49 left in the half, pushing the lead back to double-digits.
Norwood countered but two free throws by Davidson followed. Duckworth came up with a steal, which led to her 3-pointer.
Bryant led 32-19 at the half. Texarkana eventually cut the margin to 9, 36-27, with 2:56 left in the period. But a driving jumper by Duckworth, Weaver’s 3 and another slash to the rack by Duckworth who beat the clock with a bank shot, extended the margin to 43-27.
And when Anderson scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter, Bryant had its largest lead of 20, 47-27. The Lady Razorbacks’ comeback commenced when Flemons dropped a 3-ball in. With 3:27 left, Texarkana had whittled the lead back to 10, 49-39.
A Bryant turnover gave Arkansas High a chance to get even closer but the Lady Backs missed four shots at it before Allen buried a 3 with 1:19 left to cut the advantage to 7 points.
Davis stepped in and converted a pair of clutch free throws to kind of stem the tide a bit with :57.9 to go. Moore knocked down a short jumper to make it 51-44 with :51 left. But that proved to be the Lady Razorbacks’ last points. Duckworth and Anderson hit a free throws in the final :30 to set the final score.
Bryant returns to action on Tuesday, Jan. 22, at home against Lake Hamilton.
LADY HORNETS 53, LADY RAZORBACKS 44
Score by quarters
BRYANT 17 15 11 10 — 53
Texarkana 6 13 8 17 — 44
LADY HORNETS (8-11, 2-3) 53
Player fg-fga ft-fta reb fls pts
o-d-t
Davis 3-9 2-2 3-3 6 2 10
Duckworth 5-15 4-7 4-5 9 5 16
Meyer 1-2 0-0 2-1 3 2 2
Davidson 3-11 7-7 0-8 8 3 13
Weaver 1-5 0-1 1-1 2 1 3
Anderson 4-6 1-2 1-6 7 2 9
Smith 0-1 0-2 2-1 3 0 0
Scarlett 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Nichols 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Murphy 0-1 0-0 1-0 1 0 0
Team 1-3 4
Totals 17-50 14-21 15-28 15 53
LADY RAZORBACKS (10-9, 0-5) 44
Player fg-fga ft-fta reb fls pts
o-d-t
J.Allen 4-12 1-2 3-2 5 1 10
Cooper 1-8 0-0 2-2 4 3 3
Flemons 3-9 0-0 0-1 1 2 8
Norwood 4-7 3-5 6-7 13 3 11
Manley 3-13 0-0 6-4 10 3 6
V.Allen 1-11 0-4 7-1 8 1 2
Moore 2-6 0-0 0-2 2 3 4
A.Williams 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 1 0
M.Williams0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Team 2-1 3
Totals 18-67 4-11 26-21 47 19 44
Three-point field goals: Bryant 5-13 (Davis 2-5, Duckworth 2-3, Weaver 1-5), Texarkana 4-19 (Flemons 2-5, J.Allen 1-5, Cooper 1-3, Moore 0-3, Manley 0-1, V.Allen 0-1, A.Williams 0-1). Turnovers: Bryant 12, Texarkana 10. Technical foul: Bryant, Davidson.
