Sparked by Calley, Lady Hornets open season with win at Bentonville tourney
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BENTONVILLE — Kenzee Calley erupted for 18 points to lead four players in double figures as the Bryant Lady Hornets opened the 2009-10 basketball season with a 65-51 win over Duchesne, Mo., in the first round of the Crabtree Invitational Tournament on Thursday.
The Lady Hornets were set to play Texarkana on Friday at 8 p.m., in the tourney semfinals.
Alana Morris added 14 points, Hannah Goshien and Haley Montgomery 10 each for Bryant.[more]
“It was nice to play someone else,” declared Bryant coach Blake Condley. “The girls were getting tired of practicing every day. Now we can see what needs to be corrected, talk about it, work on it in practice and, hopefully, be a better team (Friday) when we play Arkansas High.”
Bryant held just a 16-14 lead after a quarter but expanded the margin in the second period, leading 36-26 by halftime. A 22-point third quarter put them firmly in control. It was 58-41 going into the final eight minutes.
The Lady Hornets forced a number of turnovers. Goshein and Montgomery each had five steals. Abbi Stearns, Shanika Johnson and Morris each had two and Calley had one. But what Condley was particularly pleased with was the assists which led to the balanced scoring.
Morris had six assists to go with four rebounds. Montgomery, Stearns and Johnson each had four assists and Calley three. Stearns led the team with six rebounds.
“The assists impressed me,” said Condley. “It seemed like most of the points we scored came off us making good passes, making the extra pass to get to an open girl.”
Of Calley’s big night, Condley said, “She’s been playing really well in practice every day. Honestly, I just think her confidence is coming around to where she believes that she’s a good player and she can do that. She was going to the rim and hitting perimeter shots.
“(Duchesne) played us some man but they used some 2-3 zone and she would flash in about mid- to high-post,” he continued. “They were throwing it in to her a little high and she was catching it above her head and never bringing down, just one fluid motion, she would catch and shoot it. It was so quick that nobody could get there in time to do anything. Then she’d catch it, give a little fake, get them off the ground and, with one dribble, go real strong to the rim.
“I think that it’s important that our scoring is the way it is,” Condley added. “We have four in double figures and that makes it hard for other teams to key on anybody. We’ve really been talking about playing as a well-rounded team.”
The Bryant pressure forced around 20 turnovers.
“We started out man pressing and they started clearing us out,” Condley related. “Then we went to a zone press that we hadn’t done a lot of but just to see, and we had quite a bit of success out that.”
