By Rob Patrick
CABOT — With 1:16 left in the first half, the Bryant Lady Hornets had two starters in foul trouble and another one out having an injured ankle tended to. They had converted just 4 of 10 free throws with the misses including three consecutive front-ends on bonus opportunities last in the first period.
Yet, they trailed the state’s second-ranked Class 7A team by just 26-14.
The Cabot Lady Panthers, however, finished out the half with 4 quick points then opened the second with a 15-1 blitz that had them on their way to a ninth straight win, a 68-34 victory over the Lady Hornets in the sparkling new Panthers Arena.
Cabot was able to keep hold of its share of the 7A/6A-Central Conference lead with the victory. Bryant, coming off a win at home over Conway that clinched a trip back to Cabot for the Class 7A State Tournament, fell to 14-12 overall and 6-6 in the league.
The Lady Panthers were once again by their start Melissa Wolffe, who is bound for the University of Arkansas women’s team next year. She had 16 points and 12 of t he 13 Cabot players that got into the game contributed to the scoring.
Logan Davis paced the Lady Hornets with 11 points. Senior Callie Hogancamp added 7 and that was, perhaps, the most significant thing for Bryant. Hogancamp, who was light’s out at times early in the season from 3-point range, had struggled to find the range in the last three games since coming back from back trouble. She buried a pair of triples in the third quarter.
Bryant head coach Brad Matthews used three of his timeouts in the first quarter to try to keep his team in the game. Cabot had opened with a 7-0 run before Courtney Davidson hit a pair of free throws to get the Lady Hornets on the board with 6:23 left in the first period.
It was 13-3 before Bryant was able to get its first field goal attempt to fall. That’s when Kiara Moore drove to the basket with 4:44 left in the first. A free throw by Laci Boyett and baskets by Sydney Wacker and Micah Odom pushed the lead to 18-5.
After Matthews’ third timeout, the Lady Hornets got the free-throw line on three straight possessions and, much to their frustration, came up empty. So when Ally Van Enk beat the buzzer with a layup for Cabot, Bryant found itself trailing 20-5.
Davidson and Wacker traded baskets to start the second quarter, then Davidson, coming off a 22-point performance against Conway, hurt her ankle saving a ball as it was going out of bounds. She wouldn’t return until the second half.
But a driving jumper by Davis and a free throw by Moore trimmed the lead to 24-10. After Moore picked up her third foul and came out, the Lady Hornets forced a turnover that led to a basket by Whitney Meyer, as she was fouled after grabbing an offensive rebound.
That had the Lady Hornets within 24-12 and moved Cabot’s Carla Crowder to call a timeout. Though Meyer couldn’t get her free throw to fall, Wolffe and Davis traded baskets to make it 26-14 at that 1:16 mark.
Wolffe’s 12-foot jumper and an eight-footer by Maddie Smith pushed the lead to 30-14 at the half.
Cabot scored the first 11 points of the second half before Moore hit a free throw. A post-up bucket by Van Enk and two free throws by Elliot Taylor completed the run as the lead grew to 30.
A 3-pointer by Davis interrupted. Van Enk scored then Hogancamp’s first 3-pointer nestled into the cords. Jaylin Bridges connected with an answering 3 for Cabot to make it 50-21 but then Davis canned a baseline jumper and Dezerea Duckworth scored inside to trim it to 25.
Taylor scored but Hogancamp fired in her second trey. Moore made a steal but the Lady Hornets suffered a turnover and Cabot proceeded on a 10-1 run, which produced the sportsmanship rule.
Bryant will play its final home game on Tuesday, Feb. 21. They’ll be facing the other league leading team, North Little Rock.
LADY PANTHERS 68, LADY HORNETS 34
Score by quarters
BRYANT 5 9 14 6 — 34
Cabot 20 10 24 14 — 68
LADY HORNETS (14-12, 6-6) 34
Player fg-fga ft-fta reb fls pts
o-d-t
Moore 1-8 2-6 1-2 3 4 4
Davis 5-10 0-0 1-2 3 1 11
Duckworth 2-8 2-3 1-1 2 3 6
Hogancamp 2-4 1-2 0-1 1 2 7
Davidson 1-3 2-3 4-1 5 1 4
Meyer 1-1 0-1 1-1 2 0 2
Murphy 0-0 0-0 1-0 1 0 0
Allen 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 3 0
Weaver 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Scarlett 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Nichols 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Team 1-1 2
Total 12-37 7-15 10-9 19 14 34
LADY PANTHERS (22-5, 11-1) 68
Player fg-fga ft-fta reb fls pts
o-d-t
Odom 2-3 3-4 0-0 0 1 7
Boyett 1-7 3-4 2-1 3 2 5
Bridges 1-4 0-0 0-1 1 3 3
Wolffe 7-10 0-2 2-4 6 2 16
Wacker 4-7 0-0 2-3 5 1 8
Taylor 4-9 2-2 3-4 7 4 10
Van Enk 3-3 0-0 2-3 5 2 6
Smith 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 5
Fowler 1-2 0-0 1-1 2 1 2
Mertens 1-1 0-0 0-1 1 1 2
Wilson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Beasley 0-0 2-2 0-0 0 0 2
Crossland 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2
Team 1-0 1
Total 27-50 10-14 13-18 31 17 68
Three-point field goals: Bryant 3-11 (Hogancamp 2-3, Davis 1-1, Moore 0-4, Duckworth 0-3), Cabot 4-11 (Wolffe 2-3, Bridges 1-3, Smith 1-2, Boyett 0-2, Taylor 0-1). Turnovers: Bryant 18, Cabot 12.
