Lady Hornets cruise past Lake Hamilton
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
It wasn’t lost on the Bryant Lady Hornets that, in the Joe T. Robinson tournament in which they’d mercy-ruled all three opponents on the way to the championship, the Lake Hamilton Lady Wolves had[more] lost a game.
And when the Lady Wolves came to the Hornets’ Nest on Monday, the Lady Hornets rolled to a 17-2 lead in the first quarter, you can understand why their intensity might wane.
Despite that, however, they eased to a 54-31 win, improving to 9-0 on the season going into a showdown on the road against the rival Benton Lady Panthers on Friday.
“They had looked and compared some scores,” acknowledged Lady Hornets coach Blake Condley. “It’s just one of those things. I thought our energy level was pretty high to start with. Then when we got that lead — I really wish we’d have had a few more competitive games these last few games.
“But I told them, when they show up for practice this week, get ready for it because we need to have three really good days to get ready for Friday night,” he added. “You know Benton will be ready to play us. They’ll fight and scrap us, probably more than anyone else this past week. And we’ll see where we’re at.
“We talked after the game and said, we feel like we’ve improved as a coaching staff and as a team but we’re going to find out Friday night,” Condley concluded. “You know Benton’s improved so we’ll kind of use this as a measuring stick to see how much we’ve improved.”
Bryant’s opening rush began with a steal, layup and free throw by sophomore McKenzie Adams who finished with 16 points in about a half of playing time. Breanna Blundell added 10 points, Kiara Moore 9. Abbi Stearns finished with 4 but, though she didn’t play much more than a half herself, she still collected 11 rebounds and blocked three shots.
London Abernathy followed up Adams’ play with a theft and, though she misfired, Blundell grabbed the rebound and scored. Another Adams steal led to a layup for Moore and a 7-0 lead.
Sierra Collier hit a free throw for Lake Hamilton to break the ice. Another by Jasmine Collier made it 7-2 but the Lady Wolves didn’t score again until Ashleigh Brown beat the buzzer ending the quarter.
In between, Adams fed Blundell for a basket inside and Abernathy hit a baseline jumper to make it 11-2. Lake Hamilton used its second timeout of the quarter to try to stem the tide but, when play resumed, Adams flushed a triple then followed up with a conventional three-point play to make it 17-2.
Blundell contribute a pair of three-point plays early in the second quarter. Lake Hamilton, however, trimmed the lead to 23-12. A free throw by Logan Davis added to Bryant’s lead. She missed the second but Stearns was there to claim the carom and score.
Brown and Davis traded hoops then Abernathy made another theft. Stearns dished to Adams for an open look and a 30-14 lead. Jasmine Collier and Moore traded 3’s and, when the half was over, Bryant held a 37-19 advantage.
Bryant then started the second half with an 8-0 run to take the mystery out of the outcome. Adams scored inside to make it a 20-point lead. She would add a three-point play before Stearns scored again off the offensive glass.
Yet another steal by Adams followed. Moore got the ball to Whitney Meyer who was fouled. And when she converted her first shot, the Lady Hornets were up 45-21.
Reserves played the rest of the way for Bryant. Rochelle Aguilar had 3 points in the final period and when Hailey Murphy scored and Brittney Ball took advantage of a Lake Hamilton turnover to hit a running jumper, the Lady Hornets had their largest lead at 54-27.
