Lady Hornets race past Lady Razorbacks
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
BRYANT TIMES
TEXARKANA — In the days leading up to the Bryant Lady Hornets’ trip to Texarkana, head coach Carla Crowder and assistant Mark Scarlett repeatedly reminded the players of last year’s visit.
With hope for a conference championship still within reach, the Lady Hornets came into the game hobbled by injury but, nonetheless, built a sizable lead that held until late in the game when the Lady Razorbacks, who struggled all season, rallied for an disheartening upset.
Although this season’s version of the Lady ‘Backs is almost completely different — four sophomores start and two others were first off the bench — Crowder took no chances. After the Lady Hornets broke fast, building a 17-4 lead in the first quarter, every time Texarkana started to hint at a rally, Crowder called a timeout to re-focus her troops.
Not that it happened often. The Lady Hornets didn’t allow much on the way to a 61-39 romp that improved them to 14-3 overall and 3-1 in AAAAA-South Conference play going into a showdown Friday with Pine Bluff.
In fact, the Lady Hornets haven’t been the same since falling behind to league-leading Sheridan 18-1 in the first quarter of their game at Bryant on Jan. 4.
“I think we learned a lot in that game,” Scarlett said after the game. “We decided we had to get after it with our defense so, since then, we have, for the most part, played aggressive man-to-man the length of the court. It energizes the team. We were just too passive in that first quarter against Sheridan.”
The game was tied at 2 when Haley Stobaugh flushed a 3-pointer that put the Lady Hornets ahead to stay.
Senior forward Bree Mann fed junior Jennifer Slack for a layup moments later and it was 7-2. Texarkana’s Julianna Register drove for a layup in response but that was the last the Lady Razorbacks could score in the quarter, a 5:45 dryspell. A pair of baskets by Mann, who led Bryant with 17 points, and two free throws by Slack, who had 16, made it 13-4. In the final minute, Yousra Elhagemoussa scored off a nice baseline move from the post and Slack rifled a pass between two Texarkana defenders to Megan Kennedy for a layup to make it 17-4.
Texarkana whittled on the lead in the second quarter and with 5:04 left, had it down to 10, 22-12. A Bryant turnover at that point brought Crowder off the bench with a timeout call.
Her team responded with a game-breaking 19-4 blitz to end the half. And everybody got into the action. Junior guard Lindsey Stone got things started with an 18-foot jumper. Moments later, Slack drained a trey to make it 27-12. After Texarkana’s Dayna Huckabee scored, Jeanne Randall knocked down a 15-footer, Mann blocked a shot and it led to a three-point play for Elhagemoussa off the offensive glass.
A bucket by Stephanie Jones with 2:10 left proved to be Texarkana’s final points of the half. Slack rebounded a missed free throw and scored then fed Randall for a layup and made a steal and drove for layup herself to make it 37-16. Mann added a pair of buckets in the final :40 and even Texarkana’s attempt at a last shot was foiled when Slack absorbed a charge.
The Lady Razorbacks had one more run in them, however. To start the third quarter, they out-scored Bryant 11-2. Even though that only trimmed the Bryant lead to 16, the trend concerned Crowder enough that she called another timeout.
Again, the Lady Hornets gave their coach what she wanted, starting with defense. With 5:32 left in the quarter, Texarkana’s Aleshia Robinson had scored off a steal to make it 43-27. Texarkana, however, didn’t score again until almost a minute deep into the fourth quarter.
Bryant had built the lead to 49-27 by the end of the third and when Randall scored inside off a nice feed from Mann, drew a foul and added a free throw, the lead was back up to 25.
Liz Hendricks ended Texarkana’s drought but then Bryant reeled off another 7-0 stretch with Randall, Slack, Stone and Mann each adding to the margin which reached its apex at 30 points going into the last five minutes of play.
Texarkana whittled on the lead in the final minute as everyone got into the game for Bryant. The final margin, however, was as close as the Lady Razorbacks would get.
