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Lexi Taylor launches a shot off a drive into the lane. (Photo by Rick Nation)
LITTLE ROCK — The North Little Rock Lady Charging Wildcats and the Conway Blue Lady Wampus Cats did no favors for the Mount St. Mary Academy Mounties.
The Mounties, struggling regardless of the opponent this season, ran into a Bryant Lady Hornets team that wound up taking a little frustration out on them. The Bryant girls came in off frustrating losses to North Little Rock and Conway Blue.
By the end of the first quarter of their game at the McCauley Center, the Lady Hornets had forged a 20-0 lead. Before Mount St. Mary could get its first point — a free throw with 2:10 left in the half, the lead had ballooned to 31-0.
Bryant eased to a 51-5 win, which snapped the mini-skid as they head into their final pre-Christmas game against the Russellville Lady Whirlwinds on Monday. The Lady Hornets are now 7-2 overall and 3-2 in the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference.
Tierra Trotter led the Lady Hornets with 13 points and Tyianna Robinson had 12. McKenzie Muse added 8, Ivory Russ 6, Celena Martin 5. Maddie Scifres pitched in with a 3-pointer. Lexi Taylor and Jada Deaton contributed 2 points apiece.
Tierra Trotter goes up for a contested layup. (Photo by Rick Nation)
The Mounties just could not contend with Bryant’s defensive pressure. In the first quarter they suffered 14 turnovers while managing four shot attempts. Though the Lady Hornets called off the press before the end of the first half, they forced 34 turnovers.
The barrage began with Trotter and Muse nailing a 3-pointer apiece. Robinson’s layup off a turnover made it 8-0 and forced Mount’s first timeout.
When play resumed, Russ drove for a basket and, after another turnover, Martin grabbed an offensive rebound and scored as she was fouled. Though the free throw wouldn’t go in, Trotter followed with a steal and a layup to make it 16-0 with 2:34 left in the quarter.
A steal and layup by Robinson kept the run going. Muse capped the scoring in the period with a hook shot from the post in the final minute.
Taylor hit two free throws to start the second quarter then made a steal. Though the Lady Hornets didn’t cash that one in, when Kinley Oholendt made a steal, it led to a trip to the free-throw line for Muse.
The free throws refused to go in but Oholendt rebounded and Muse got an open look from 3 and splashed it to extend the margin to 25.
McKenzie Muse pushed the ball up the floor ahead of teammate Kinley Oholendt. (Photo by Rick Nation)
After another Mounties’ timeout, Lady Hornets coach Nathan Castaldi called off the press. Still, Robinson made a steal and a layup out of the half-court defense. Russ swiped the ball and Trotter hit a layup on consecutive trips up the floor to make it 31-0.
Mount went 1 for 3 in two trips to the free-throw line after that and, with less than a minute left in the half, Deaton drained a baseline jumper to make it 33-1 at the half.
The Mounties’ first field goal didn’t come until the 3:52 mark of the third quarter. By then the Lady Hornets had pushed the lead to 39-1 as Robinson scored twice on feeds from Russ and Trotter drained a pull-up jumper.
Martin hit a free throw after Mount scored and followed up with a steal and a layup.
By the end of the third quarter, Bryant held a 48-5 lead. The fourth quarter was played with a running clock in accordance with the sportsmanship rule. Bryant’s lone basket of the stanza was Scifres’ triple, which came off a steal by Deaton.
