Lady Hornets move closer to securing a State bid with win over Texarkana
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
“That’s Scarlett, with two ‘t’s’ and two threes,” declared Mark Scarlett, the proud daddy of the[more] Bryant Lady Hornets’ Kristen Scarlett who was one of four who scored in double figures in Tuesday’s 62-28 romp over the Texarkana Lady Razorbacks at the Hornets’ Nest.
Indeed, Kristen Scarlett drained back-to-back 3’s during the second quarter, as the Lady Hornets were building a 34-8 lead. She wound up with 10 points off the bench to go with 10 by Courtney Davidson, who also had a game-high eight rebounds, and 12 points each for Dezerea Duckworth and Logan Davis. Peyton Weaver had 6 on a pair of 3’s in the first quarter, part of a 20-2 start. Madeleine Baxter finished with 4, Whitney Meyer, Erica Smith and Rachel Barber pitched in with 2 each. Destin Nichols and Hayley Murphy added 1 apiece.
That makes 11 players that contributed to the scoring. Jayla Anderson and Brittany Earls helped out in the win too, though they were the only ones who didn’t score.
“We were able to get some points from some different people and we need that,” stated Lady Hornets coach Brad Matthews. “We’ve got two conference games left, a tough one at Lake Hamilton Friday. We’ll need to play like this on Friday to have a good chance.”
Bryant hosts El Dorado in the regular-season finale on Tuesday, Feb. 19.
Now, Lake Hamilton is right behind the Lady Hornets in the 7A/6A-South Conference standings but that’s not as much a concern. With the way the Class 7A and Class 6A teams are mixed together in conferences now, the Lady Hornets’ post-season fate is affected more by games that were played in Springdale and Siloam Springs Tuesday night.
You see, they are not playing against the teams they’re contending with for a Class 7A State Tournament bid and the seeding that goes with it. Though they play in the South, they’ll be seeded in the West. Currently, Bryant is the sixth seed with an outside chance to finish fifth if they can pass Fayetteville. Or Springdale, now seeded seventh and out of the tournament, could still catch up and knock the Lady Hornets out.
Springdale played against crosstown rival Har-Ber Tuesday night while Fayetteville was at Siloam Springs. Springdale and Fayetteville play each other Friday then has Bentonville at home before finishing up at Van Buren, the last place team in the West. Fayetteville finishes at Har-Ber and at Bentonville, both teams higher in the standings.
“If we win, I think it takes care of itself so that’s what we want to do,” Matthews stated. “We want to control our own fate and not have to rely on somebody winning or somebody losing.”
The Lady Hornets had won 53-44 at Texarkana on Jan. 18. This time, they put together the fast start and, early in the fourth quarter, led by 30 as the game finished with the clock running continuously in accordance with the Arkansas Activities Association “sportsmanship” rule.
Davis and Weaver each hit 3’s and Davidson added a free throw to make it 7-0. Texarkana’s Shaquenda Cooper drove for a layup but then Bryant went on a 13-0 run, started with Weaver’s second triple.
Davidson added another free throw then, after a Texarkana turnover, followed her own miss for a three-point play. Davis made a steal and, when Duckworth’s contested shot wouldn’t go, rebounded and scored to make it 16-2.
After a Texarkana timeout, Davidson got to the line again with a drive and converted twice. And Davis followed a Texarkana miss with a 15-foot jumper to complete the spree.
A pair of baskets by Ashley Williams made it 20-6 going into the second quarter.
Duckworth scored 6 of her points in the second period. She hit two free throws then got an assist on Scarlett’s first bucket, a jumper from around the elbow area. Two free throws by Meyer, who was fouled on a shot, extended the margin to 20 for the first time, 26-6.
Texarkana’s Keondra Flemons interrupted with bucket but Duckworth hit the offensive boards for an answering deuce. With 2:20 left in the half, Scarlett knocked down her first trey. Moments later, Baxter and Duckworth forced a turnover. Duckworth found Scarlett on the wing and she drained another troika to make it 34-8 as Texarkana took another timeout.
Bryant led 36-13 at the half.
“We shot it well early,” acknowledged Matthews. “That got us off to a good start. We were able to get out in transition a little bit, kind of loosen up. Scarlett shot it well tonight. Weaver shot well early.”
Bryant opened the second half with a quick 6 points on a pair of baskets by Duckworth on pull-up jumpers in the lane. Davis had another steal between those buckets and drove for a layup.
The lead was 42-13 at that point and 50-22 by the end of the quarter.
The Lady Razorbacks got a 3 from Alexa Jefferson to start the fourth quarter. A parade to the free throw line then began for the Lady Hornets. Scarlett converted twice then so did Baxter. Murphy set up and took a charge and, moments later, Nichols went to the line where she converted once to make it 55-25 with 6:26 left in the game.
That’s when the mercy rule kicked in. Murphy, who had five rebounds in the final quarter, hit a free throw after grabbed a defensive carom. On the Lady Hornets’ next trip up, she fed Smith for a basket. And when Barber canned a 12-footer around the 2:20 mark, Bryant had its largest lead at 60-25.
Jasmine Allen closed out Texarkana’s scoring with a 3 then Baxter added two more free throws to set the final score.
LADY HORNETS 62, LADY RAZORBACKS 28
Score by quarters
Texarkana 6 7 9 6 — 28
BRYANT 20 16 14 12 — 62
LADY RAZORBACKS (11-15, 1-11) 28
Player fg-fga ft-fta reb fls pts
o-d-t
J.Allen 2-13 0-0 0-0 0 1 6
Cooper 1-2 0-2 0-1 1 2 2
Flemons 1-7 0-0 2-3 5 1 2
Moss 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 1 0
Moore 0-6 0-0 1-4 5 1 0
M.Williams 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 1 0
Je.Campbell 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Ja.Campbell 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
A.Williams 5-11 0-0 0-2 2 4 10
Jefferson 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 3 6
V.Allen 1-1 0-0 1-1 2 2 2
Norwood 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 1 0
Gomans 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 0 0
Team 3-2 5
Totals 12-44 0-2 7-16 23 19 28
LADY HORNETS (11-15, 5-7) 62
Player fg-fga ft-fta reb fls pts
o-d-t
Duckworth 5-12 2-2 3-3 6 3 12
Davis 5-11 0-0 1-2 3 2 12
Weaver 2-5 0-0 0-2 2 0 6
Davidson 1-7 8-12 3-5 8 0 10
Meyer 0-2 2-2 1-2 3 1 2
Smith 1-4 0-0 2-0 2 0 2
Anderson 0-0 0-0 1-1 2 2 0
Scarlett 3-3 2-4 0-2 2 0 10
Nichols 0-1 1-2 0-0 0 2 1
Murphy 0-0 1-2 0-5 5 0 1
Baxter 0-0 4-4 0-1 1 1 4
Barber 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2
Earls 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Team 3-3 6
Totals 18-46 20-28 14-26 40 11 62
Three-point field goals: Texarkana 4-15 (J.Allen 2-8, Jefferson 2-3, A.Williams 0-2, Cooper 0-1, Flemons 0-1), Bryant 6-18 (Davis 2-8, Weaver 2-5, Scarlett 2-2, Duckworth 0-2, Nichols 0-1). Turnovers: Texarkana 19, Bryant 16.
