Lady Hornets edge host team to advance to tourney finals
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BEEBE — Tierra Trotter hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 1:05 as the Bryant Lady Hornets held on for a 53-51 win over the Beebe Lady Badgers on Saturday to advance to the championship of the Beebe Holiday Classic. On Monday at 7 p.m., the Lady Hornets will take on 6A-Central Conference rival Cabot for the championship.
Trotter scored 21 points in the game. India Atkins had 11, McKenzie Muse 10 and Lexi Taylor 5. McKeycia Baker came off the bench with Muse and forward Ivory Russ in foul trouble, and added 4 points and a handful of rebounds.
“Tierra had a great night,” said Lady Hornets head coach Brad Matthews. “That’s what’s going to make our team good is one night, like last night, it was Lexie. The next night it might be India or Parris (Atkins). Tonight, it was Tierra and McKenzie.
“McKeycia came in and gave us some really good minutes,” he noted. “That’s when we’re at our best. We have to be a team. We can’t just be one person goes for 30, we’ve got to be a team. And tonight, we saw spurts of that and that was good. It’s good to have McKeycia play well. We’ll need her in January and February.”
The key play of the game may have been a steal by Celena Martin. Beebe had some momentum after a timeout as the Lady Hornets took a 46-41 lead on an offensive-rebound basket by Muse. The Lady Badgers whittled it down to 46-44 and had a chance to tie or take the lead after a Bryant miss.
But Martin made a steal and fed India Atkins for a driving layup with 2:06 left to play, extending the Bryant lead to 48-44.
Teighlor Farmer hit the offensive glass to score and cut it to 2 with 1:40 remaining. Bryant, in turn, missed a shot but the rebound went out of bounds off the hands of a Beebe player. After a timeout by the Lady Badgers, the Lady Hornets started working the clock and Trotter was fouled at the 1:03 mark.
Those two free throws made it a two-possession lead for the Lady Hornets. It stayed 50-46 with both teams missing bonus opportunities at the line. With :14.4 left, Beebe’s Mia Bradley hit one free throw to make it a 3-point game. Bryant inbounded and Trotter was fouled immediately. She converted her second shot to push it to a two-possession lead again.
With :05.2 to go, Beebe’s Zoe McGee converted one of her two free throws so when Trotter knocked down both shots with :04.7 showing, it put the game out of reach. Bradley hit a 3 at the buzzer to set the final score.
Another key to the game came in the first half when the Lady Hornets had three players on the bench with two fouls. Beebe surged to a 19-12 lead, but Bryant rallied to lead 27-24 at the half.
Trotter started the surge, scoring off an inbounds play. At the other end, she rebounded a miss by Beebe’s Joey Babel and went coast-to-coast for a layup.
The Lady Badgers just had no one quick enough to stay in front of Trotter.
The teams exchanged turnovers then Beebe’s Laylah Reese scored off the offensive glass to extend the lead back to 21-16.
Trotter scored again off a nice give-and-go with Mady Scifres. Moments later, Baker took a feed from Trotter and scored to make it a one-point game.
At the other end, Baker forced a held ball and the Lady Hornets regained possession. Taylor, off another feed from Scifres, nailed a 3-pointer to put the Lady Hornets ahead for the first time since the end of the first quarter.
Martin rebounded a miss by Beebe and, on a drive to the basket, Taylor was fouled. Her free throws made it 25-21.
Beebe ended its drought with a basket by Madelyn Atkins. Trotter answered then a free throw by Atkins in the final minute set the halftime score.
“We got into foul trouble,” said Matthews. “We never really got into a rhythm. We didn’t really get anything out of our press. We really couldn’t get out in transition and yet we’re down 5, 6 or 7 there right before half. We make a run and get ahead.
The game was tied 38-38 at the end of the third quarter and when Bradley hit a 3 to start the fourth, Beebe was up again. But Bryant scored the next 8 points to regain the upper hand. Trotter hit a 12-foot jumper. She hit two free throws with 5:48 left to give Bryant the lead again then Muse converted twice at the line and, with 4:41 left, got a stickback to make it 46-41.
“Tonight was really the first time we’ve had to play in the half court and we found a way to win,” Matthews mentioned. “It’s always tough to beat the host team in their tournament on a Saturday night. So, there’s a lot of good stuff. Obviously, some things we’ve got to work on but, I thought, defensively in the half court we’re getting better. We let them out in a little transition, which probably cost us 15, 18 points in transition but, in the half court, we’re getting better and better.”
