Lady Hornets overwhelm Fort Smith Southside
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 continue posting 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).
File photo by Kevin Nagle
FORT SMITH — When a 6A-Central Conference team plays the Fort Smith Southside Lady Mavericks, it’s a must win.
Not because the Lady Mavs are the challenge that Conway or Northside or Cabot is. It’s just that the Lady Mavs have been in a terrible funk over recent years, losing over 40 games in a row. You’re team’s got to beat them because everyone else in the conference has and most likely will. It’s a win you can’t miss.
On Tuesday, making their last trip to Southside for a while — the Lady Mavs will be in the 6A-West next season — the Bryant Lady Hornets got that work done, rolling out to a 10-0 lead and never looking back on the way to a 49-20 victory that ended with a running clock in accordance with the mercy rule (30-point lead or more in the fourth quarter) when, with 6:41 to go, Bryant point guard Tierra Trotter made a steal and a layup to make it 46-16.
Trotter wound up with 13 points and nine rebounds for the Lady Hornets to go with 11 points by Parris Atkins. Lexie Taylor had 9.
The victory not only allowed the Lady Hornets to keep pace with everyone else that has swept Southside this season, it moved them into a three-way tie for third place in the league going into the last three games of the regular season. They’ll host second-place Cabot on Friday then close out the season at North Little Rock and at home against Conway on Friday, Feb. 28. Those two are the teams that the Lady Hornets are tied with.
Already qualified for the 6A State Tournament, which Bryant will host in its brand spanking new arena, the Lady Hornets have a chance to finish with a hit seed. Potentially, they could still get second and the first-round bye at State that comes with that.
Bryant’s opening salvo on Tuesday was instigated by Parris Atkins with an offensive-rebound basket, after the first two minutes of the game had gone scoreless.
After the Bryant press forced Southside to turn it over on a 10-second back-court infraction, McKenzie Muse drained a 3 and the Lady Mavs took a timeout.
When play resumed, the two teams scrambled for a while before Parris Atkins made another steal and fed Trotter for a layup. Atkins and Trotter would add free throws to make it 10-0 before Southside’s Shielo Laranjo hit a 3 with 2:13 left in the first quarter.
But that would be the only Lady Mavs’ basket of the period. They wouldn’t score again until Dylon McCord hit a 3 at the 5:35 mark of the second quarter.
By then, the Lady Hornets had pushed the lead to 18-3. It was 13-3 at the first break then Madi Scifres nailed a 3 for Bryant to start the second quarter. Parris Atkins drove for a layup off another Southside turnover before McCord’s trey.
And before the Lady Mavs could score again, Muse hit a short jumper, Celena Martin knocked down a pull-up jumper off a drive, India Atkins hit a free throw and Trotter made it 25-6 with a layup.
A pair of late 3’s by Lexie Taylor had the Lady Hornets up 31-11 before Laranjo beat the buzzer with a triple to make it 31-14 at the half.
Bryant forced 15 turnovers in the first half and 26 for the game, though the rate slowed down in the fourth quarter when Lady Hornets head coach Brad Matthews turned to his reserves.
The game blew up in the second half. After Parris Atkins’ layup was answered by two free throws from Sabrina Phonkouphon, Bryant went on the 13-0 burst that produced the mercy-rule lead.
It was 41-16 going into the fourth quarter. Ivory Russ made a steal and Taylor hit a 3 to open the fourth. Moments later, Trotter hit the layup that put the clock in motion.
After that, Russ hit a free throw and Scifres fed Mackeycia Baker for a basket to set the final score.
LADY HORNETS 49, LADY MAVERICKS 20
Score by quarters
BRYANT 13 18 10 8 — 49
FS Southside 3 11 2 4 — 20
LADY HORNETS (15-8, 7-4) 49
Trotter 5-15 3-6 13, P.Atkins 4-8 3-4 11, I.Atkins 0-6 2-6 2, Martin 1-3 0-2 2, Muse 2-6 0-0 5, Russ 0-2 2-4 2, Le.Taylor 3-4 0-0 9, Scifres 1-4 0-0 3, Baker 1-3 0-0 2, Kr.Weng 0-0 0-0 0, Ka.Weng 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-51 (33%) 10-22 (45%) 49.
LADY MAVERICKS (0-23, 0-11) 20
Roffine 0-6 0-0 0, Laranjo 3-8 0-0 9, Phonkoumphon 0-2 2-2 2, Redding 0-4 0-0 0, Rice 2-4 0-0 4, Norwood 0-0 0-0 0, Grist 0-2 0-0 0, McCord 2-4 0-0 5, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Neal 0-0 0-0 0, Ndungu 0-0 0-0 0, Clark 0-0 0-0 0, Branham 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 7-30 (23%) 2-2 (100%) 20.
Three-point field goals: Bryant 5-25 (Taylor 3-4, Muse 1-4, Scifres 1-4, Trotter 0-4, P.Atkins 0-1, I.Atkins 0-1, Martin 0-1), FS Southside 4-17 (Laranjo 3-8, McCord 1-3, Roffine 0-3, Redding 0-3). Turnovers: Bryant 10, FS Southside 26. Rebounds: Bryant 17-19 36 (Trotter 5-4 9, P.Atkins 3-4 7, I.Atkins 1-3 4, Martin 2-2 4, Baker 2-2 4, Muse 0-3 3, Russ 2-0 2, Scifres 2-0 2, team 0-1 1), FS Southside 4-20 (Rice 1-4 5, Grist 1-4 5, Phonkouphon 1-3 4, Laranjo 0-2 2, McCord 0-2 2, Johnson 0-2 2, team 1-2). Team fouls: Bryant 6, FS Southside 14.
