Photos by Kevin Nagle
TEXARKANA — The Texarkana Lady Razorbacks crashed the boards for 16 offensive rebounds that mostly got turned into points Tuesday night as they built a 28-14 halftime lead then hold off a comeback by the Bryant Lady Hornets for a 49-42 win.
Peyton Weaver launches a shot. (Photo by Kevin Nagle)
It was a disappointing loss for the Lady Hornets who have now suffered three setbacks in a row as they try to qualify for the Class 7A State Tournament. Of the three losses, the one to Texarkana was the first to a team not above them in the standings. The Lady Backs came into the game 1-7 in the South Conference with a loss at Bryant, 43-38, back on Jan. 24.
The Lady Hornets host Lake Hamilton this Friday for Senior Night then finishes the regular season at El Dorado.
The difference between the two meetings was not only Texarkana’s work on the offensive boards but also four first-half 3-pointers including three by Alexia Jefferson, who led the team with 15 points.
Bryant’s loss came despite a 26-point performance by junior Jakeria Otey and a second-half rally in which they whittled the 14-point halftime deficit to 5 halfway through the fourth quarter. It helped that they converted all 14 of their free throws in the second half while Texarkana was hitting just 13 of 27 from the line. The Lady Backs were 15 of 31 at the stripe for the game; Bryant 18 of 23.
And, actually, the Lady Hornets out-rebounded Texarkana 36-35 for the game led by Aubree Allen’s 13 and Erica Smith’s nine. Unfortunately, there were several instances, particularly early when Bryant was trying to adjust to the physical nature of the game under the glass, that the Lady Hornets would collect a rebound, get surrounded by Lady Razorbacks, and have the ball ripped from their arms without a foul.
Bryant’s Jakeria Otey, left, tries to get a shot over Texarkana’s Shaquenda Cooper. (Photo by Kevin Nagle)
“We just dug ourselves too big a hole early,” related Bryant coach Brad Matthews. “I thought we didn’t execute very well. Give Texarkana credit. I thought they were the aggressors tonight. I thought their kids really competed hard. They really, really hurt us on the boards a lot. As a team, they just really went after the ball on the boards and we didn’t have an answer tonight.
“Many possessions, it was two or three shots, multiple offensive rebounds — you can’t allow that, where they get easy little stickbacks,” he continued. “Other than (Jefferson) hitting those 3’s, they scored most of their points off second, third, fourth shots.
“It’s just tough to come back on the road. Our kids fought back in the second half.”
With Jefferson hitting two of her 3’s, the Lady Razorbacks built a 12-6 lead in the first quarter. Otey hit a baseline jumper then, off a steal by Allen, went to the line and added a free throw to make it a 3-point game going into the second quarter.
Texarkana opened the new stanza with a 13-1 run, which produced the largest lead of the game, 25-10. Otey hit a free throw with 2:21 left in the half and Peyton Weaver followed with a 3-pointer to trim it to 11. But off of offensive rebounds, Morgan Norwood got to the line for the Lady Razorbacks in the final minute. She converted once and, later, Jefferson grabbed the carom off a teammate’s miss and scored to set the halftime margin.
Allen fed Smith for a basket to start the second half. Moments later, Smith pulled down an offensive rebound and got to the line where she converted twice to cut the margin to 10.
Texarkana built the lead back up to 13 going into the final two minutes of the third quarter but Otey knocked down a pair of free throws — she was 14 of 18 for the game — and after Jasmine Allen missed twice for the Lady Razorbacks, Bryant’s Maddie Baxter fed Rachel Miller for a basket that had the Lady Hornets within 9.
There was a lot of contact in Tuesday’s game as Bryant’s Jayla Anderson (15) can attest. (PHoto by Kevin Nagle)
Shaquenda Cooper converted a pair of free throws for Texarkana, so it was 37-26 going into the fourth quarter.
Cooper hit another free throw early in the fourth but Otey buried a 3. Norwood converted at the line to make it 39-29 but, off a steal by Jayla Anderson, Bryant took advantage of another chance to trim the margin. Aubree Allen posted up for a hoop and the lead was down to 8.
But Jefferson, who always seemed to be the one that scored when her team really needed it, popped a 12-footer to stem the tide for the time being.
Bryant kept coming though. Free throws by Otey and Aubree Allen helped trim the lead to 41-35 and somewhere along the way, the Texarkana scorekeeper added a point to the Bryant total. So the scoreboard read 41-36.
Jasmine Allen hit a free throw with 3:43 to go and, after a Bryant miss, Texarkana’s Stacey Manley scored off an offensive carom.
Aubree Allen answered at the other end and when Otey made four free throws while Texarkana was converting once in four attempts. So with :53.4 on the clock, the Lady Hornets were within 47-42.
Frustratingly, the Lady Razorbacks made just 2 of 6 free throws after that but the Lady Hornets were unable to take advantage.
LADY RAZORBACKS 49, LADY HORNETS 42
Score by quarters
BRYANT 9 5 12 16 —42
Texarkana 12 16 9 12 — 49
LADY HORNETS (8-14, 4-8) 42
Otey 5-16 14-18 26, Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, A.Allen 2-7 2-3 6, Smith 1-2 2-2 4, Weaver 1-8 0-0 3, Baxter 0-2 0-0 0, Miller 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 10-37 18-23 41.
LADY RAZORBACKS (10-11, 2-7) 49
J.Allen 2-12 5-8 9, Jefferson 6-9 0-0 15, Campbell 0-2 0-2 0, Norwood 2-4 3-9 7, Manley 2-5 0-4 4, A.Williams 0-3 0-0 0, Flemons2-6 0-0 5, Cooper 1-5 7-9 9, M.Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Green 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-47 15-31 49.
Three-point field goals: Bryant 3-14 (Otey 2-5, Weaver 1-8, A.Allen 0-1), Texarkana 4-12 (Jefferson 3-3, Flemons 1-3, J.Allen 0-3, Manley 0-2, A.Williams 0-1). Rebounds: Bryant 36 (A.Allen 13, Smith 9), Texarkana 35 (Norwood, J.Allen 6). Turnovers: Bryant 15, Texarkana 11. Team fouls: Bryant 23, Texarkana 18. Fouled out: Bryant, Anderson; Texarkana, Jefferson.
