PEARCY — Trailing 16-8 going into the final three minutes, the Bryant Blue Lady Hornets eighth grade team of Bethel Middle School put together a late rally only to be denied the victory as Lake Hamilton held on for an 18-14 win on Monday night.
The Bryant Blue team includes[more] Annamarie Blair, Isabella Bluemmel, Julie Brazil, Nikki Clay, Haley Dellis, Brittany Kelley, Mercedes Dillard, Yessenia Gasper, Katelyn Giffin, Emily Henson, Allison Hughes, Jamie Jamison, Rylee Phillips, Saide Powers, and Dominque West.
The Lady Hornets are scheduled to return to action today against E-Stem at the Wildcat Shootout at Little Rock Episcopal Collegiate. The Bryant Blue seventh grade plays Little Rock Christian today.
On Monday, Lake Hamilton managed a 3-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. West had a basket for Bryant but the Lady Wolves stretched the margin to 10-2 in the second quarter. Clay nailed a 3 to make it 10-5 but a basket near the end of the half made it 12-5.
Lake Hamilton scored the first basket of the third quarter but a free throw by Phillips, a steal by Clay and a bucket by Jamison off a nice feed from Hughes made it 14-8 with 3:32 left in the half.
It stayed that way until the final minute when Lake Hamilton scored again to make it 16-8 going into the fourth quarter.
And it was still 16-8 with 2:30 left in the game as the two teams battled defensively. Powers made a steal and was fouled with 2:27 left. She converted both free throws to cut into the Lady Wolves’ lead.
Another Lake Hamilton turnover led to a trip to the line for Blair at the 2:08 mark. She too knocked down both shots and the Lady Hornets were within 16-12.
They had a chance to get closer by forcing yet another turnover but Lake Hamilton got it back and scored with 1:39 left.
In a flurry of missed shots and turnovers, Bryant finally answered when Powers grabbed the rebound off a Lake Hamilton miss and went the length of the floor for a driving layup that got the lead back to 4 with :27 left.
After a timeout, the Lady Hornets forced another turnover with :24 to go only to have Lake Hamilton swipe the ball with :06.6 showing to seal the victory.
Powers led with 4 points. Clay had 3. West, Jamison and Blair added 2 each and Phillips had one.
