The Bryant Lady Hornets played some defense on Friday night. By holding the El Dorado Lady Wildcats without a field goal until 2:16 into the second quarter, the Lady Hornets were able to rush out to a 25-7 lead. The margin was never less than that and, eventually, grew to the maximum of 31 at the end as they secured a 79-48 victory.
If there was any remaining disappointment with their loss on Tuesday to rival Benton, the Lady Hornets took it out on El Dorado.
It was Senior Night for Bryant as seniors Lauryn Taylor, Kaitlyn and Kristyn Weng along with managers Emma Edmonson and Alyson Kirkley were honored.
“If we could design it, we would design it every game,” said Lady Hornets head coach Brad Matthews regarding the fast start. “We made some shots. We made some outside shots. Emileigh (Muse) hit a good one to start us.
“It was good to get ahead,” he asserted. “It was good to make shots. I thought we executed a little bit better and, obviously, everything is better when the shots go down.”
Muse would lead the Lady Hornets with 19 points. Parris Atkins had 16, Natalie Edmonson 14 and Lauren Lain 10.
El Dorado’s Carshaila Rozier led all scored with 21 points, 17 of which came in the second half. Kalese Moseby finished with 10.
“We were able to get in the lane and I thought we had some good possessions of getting to the rim, getting some clean looks around the rim,” Matthews said.
It was noteworthy too that the Lady Hornets outrebounded the Lady Cats, 44-41.
“They rebound really well,” the coach said of El Dorado. “We had them on tape against Benton and they rebound really well.
“For most of the game, we kept them off the boards,” he added. “When you rebound, you can keep them out of transition because they’re really good in the open floor. Those are important things but those are going to be important things every game.
“We’re young and inexperienced so there’s everything to work on, but I think our rebounding and our free throws are going to be something that we work on daily,” Matthews said. “They’re something that we commit to making sure we get better at. And when you do, that’s going to be a work in progress. Hopefully, over the course of weeks, we can see progress.”
Along with Muse, Edmonson hit a 3 in the early going as Bryant broke out 8-0. After Zaria Brown hit a free throw for El Dorado, Atkins’ three-point play gave the Lady Hornets their first double-digit lead 11-1.
Limited to free throws, the Lady Wildcats were within 13-5 but, in the final 1:01 of the opening quarter, Muse scored off the offensive glass and Edmonson drained another triple to make it 18-5 going into the second stanza.
Jordan Hancock started the new period with a 3 and, after Moseby hit two free throws, Lain followed her own miss for a bucket. Muse found Edmonson for a layup and it was 25-7.
Moseby finally broke the ice with the Lady Cats’ first field goal at the 4:44 mark of the second quarter.
But Edmonson found the range from 3 again. After an El Dorado timeout, Atkins drove for a basket, Lain made a steal and Atkins cashed it in to stretch the margin to 32-9.
The Lady Hornets hit 40 in the half, leading 40-15.
A steal and layup by Atkins started the second half. Muse buried a trey and the margin was 30.
El Dorado made a run at the end of the third quarter, but Bryant’s lead was still 62-35 going into the fourth.
Three’s from Brown and Rozier helped get the Lady Wildcats within 65-46 but the Lady Hornets finished the game with an 11-0 surge highlighted by baskets for each of the Wengs. Muse got the assist on Kristyn’s layup. Kaitlyn knocked down a baseline jumper.
Shamya Jordan hit a free throw to set the final score with 1:22 left to play.
LADY HORNETS 79, LADY WILDCATS 48
Score by quarters
El Dorado 5 10 20 13 — 48
BRYANT 18 22 22 17 — 79
LADY WILDCATS 48
Johnson 2-5 3-5 7, Rozier 4-12 12-15 21, Rester 0-4 0-0 0, Lockhart 0-6 1-2 1, Nelson 1-4 0-0 2, Whitten 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 1-10 4-6 7, Lee 0-1 0-0 0, Moseby 3-10 3-4 10, Hill 0-2 0-0 0, Holmes 0-0 0-2 0, Larry 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-54 (20%) 23-34 (68%) 48.
LADY HORNETS 79
Atkins 6-7 4-7 16, Ka.Weng 1-3 0-0 2, Muse 6-12 4-4 19, Kr.Weng 1-2 1-2 3, Taylor 0-1 1-2 1, Edmonson 5-9 0-0 14, Findley 1-5 3-6 5, Lain 3-5 0-0 7, Hancock 3-5 0-0 7, Welch 0-1 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan 0-4 1-2 1, Horton 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 28-59 (47%) 15-27 (56%) 79.
Three-point field goals: Bryant 8-20 (Edmonson 4-8, Muse 3-7, Hancock 1-1, Ka.Weng 0-2, Kr.Weng 0-1, Findley 0-1), El Dorado 3-21 (Moseby 1-5, Rozier 1-4, Brown 1-3, Rester 0-4, Lockhart 0-3, Lee 0-1). Turnovers: Bryant 12, El Dorado 13. Rebounds: Bryant 15-29 44 (Muse 1-7 8, Lain 4-4 8, Atkins 1-4 5, Hancock 2-3 5, Edmonson 1-3 4, Ka.Weng 1-2 3, Taylor 1-2 3, Findley 1-2 3, Kr.Weng 1-0 1, Welch 0-1 1, Jordan 1-0 1, team 1-1 2), El Dorado 14-27 41 (Nelson 2-5 7, Rozier 4-2 6, Moseby 1-4 5, Brown 2-2 4, Lockhart 0-3 3, Johnson 0-2 2, Lee 1-1 2, Hill 1-1 2, team 3-3 6). Team fouls: Bryant 27, El Dorado 21. Fouled out: Bryant, Taylor.
