CONWAY — Aggressive defense helped the Bryant White Lady Hornets eighth-grade team win its fourth game in a row on Thursday night with a 33-11 decision over the Conway White Lady Cats at Conway High School.
After a taking a 9-3 lead at the end of the first quarter, the Lady Hornets surged to a 22-4 halftime lead.
“We won the turnover margin with only committing nine turnovers while causing 27,” said Lady Hornets coach Ben Perry. “We stole the ball 18 times with our quick hands on defense. I was proud of the girls’ aggressiveness on defense.
“Ever since our opener we have stuck with the idea that it is better to be the hammer than the nail,” he explained. “We try and take the game to the opponent and put pressure on the opponent rather than having it done to us. We struck quick then we began to put it away in the second and early in the third as we got up at one point by 22.”
It was 31-7 going into the fourth quarter.
Brilynn Findley led Bryant White with 11 points. Emeril Jones scored 6 with Arion Pegram and Rihanna Ware adding 5 each. Kristen Reese scored 4 points and Nia Swann 2. Reese, Pegram and Findley each hit 3-pointers.
“I was very happy with the spread of scores for our team,” Perry said. “I was glad to see that other players have started to realize that it takes more than one or two players to be successful. Everyone must do their part.
“I feel we could have rebounded better but, all in all, it was a good showing to end the week,” he related.
“Next week we have what I would call a gauntlet with Lake Hamilton on Monday, Cabot North on Tuesday and finishing the week with North Little Rock on Thursday, the coach said. “We may be closing in on Christmas break, but we have a lot of basketball to play before we can relax. We have an extremely tough week next week. The girls will rest up this weekend and be ready for play on Monday.”
The Lady Hornets are on the road Monday and Tuesday then host North Little Rock to close out the pre-holiday schedule.
