Photos by Kevin Nagle
PEARCY — If Bryant Lady Hornets head coach Brad Matthews had been told before his team’s game against the Lake Hamilton Lady Wolves on Tuesday, that Kori Bullard would score just 2 points, no doubt he would’ve liked his team’s chances.
Jakeria Otey led the Lady Hornets with 12 points. (Photo by Kevin Nagle)
But then whoever let him in on that would have to also mention that the Lady Wolves would fire in nine 3-pointers and would convert 53 percent of their shots from the field. Of course, there’s no way the coach would concede anything but he might’ve admitted it was going to be tough to beat that.
And it was.
Bullard only attempted five shots in the game but four different players hit 3’s led by Kylie Frazier who drilled 4 of 5 attempts and Courtney Thompson who knocked down 3 of 5. Bullard would up collecting more assists that points as the Lady Wolves forged a 57-38 win.
The two teams came into the contest tied in South Conference play with 2-3 records. The Lady Wolves upped their overall record to 9-6. Bryant dropped to 6-10 going into Friday’s home game against league-leading El Dorado, which improved to 18-1 on the season and 5-0 versus the league with a win over Benton Tuesday night.
“I thought Aubree Allen did a good job guarding (Bullard),” said Matthews, whose team had lost by a similar score, 56-35, at the Spa Classic holiday tournament in Hot Springs on Dec. 30 — a game in which Bullard scored 18. “They just had a lot of kids step up and make shots. Some of that was due to breakdowns we had. Other times, they just made some shots. Some nights you just have to give credit.
“I thought our kids competed, fought back and hung around,” the coach noted. “I think there’s some stuff we can gain out of this. We’ve got a big game Friday with El Dorado coming in. We’ve got to put this behind us and go to work tomorrow and have two good days of prep to get ready.”
It was actually Allen that hit the first 3 of the game. It gave the Lady Hornets a 3-2 lead. But Lexi Crone countered with a 3 and Carly Herron followed with another and Lake Hamilton had the lead for good. Baskets by Hailey Humphrey and Herron made it 12-3 before Bryant’s Jayla Anderson came through with a three-point play. The Lady Wolves then finished the quarter with a 6-0 surge capped by Frazier’s buzzer-beating 3.
Peyton Weaver launches a 3-pointer. (Photo by Kevin Nagle)
Frazier stepped inside the arc to hit a jumper at the start of the second period. Down 20-6, the Lady Hornets whittled on the margin starting with a 15-foot jumper by Annie Patton, who provided some scoring spark off the bench, finishing with 9 points. That was second only to Jakeria Otey’s 12.
Herron hit a free throw then Otey scored the next 6 points as the Lady Hornets cut it to 21-14. Thompson scored but Allen hit two free throws and it was a 7-point game with 2:17 left in the half.
Lake Hamilton surged again to end the half and, with a strong start to the third quarter, wound up with a 15-2 surge that including a 3 by Thompson and two of them by Frazier along the way. The Lady Hornets’ lone basket was a 15-footer by sophomore Rachel Miller.
Allen broke the silence for Bryant with a 15-footer at the 4:10 mark of the third quarter. Maddie Baxter rebounded a teammate’s miss and scored then Patton drilled another jay and the 20-point margin was trimmed to 14.
Frazier and Patton traded hoops to make it 40-26 at the 1:40 mark but Thompson and Frazier then buried consecutive 3’s and the Lady Hornets were never that close again.
Otey finished off the third quarter scoring with a driving layup to make it 46-28.
In the fourth quarter, Peyton Weaver and Patton popped 3’s around Thompson’s last triple. When Otey took a feed from Weaver on an inbounds play and scored with 4:12 left, the Lady Hornets were within 15.
Bryant, however, would manage just 2 points the rest of the game as the Lady Wolves extended the margin once again.
LADY WOLVES 57, LADY HORNETS 38
Score by quarters
BRYANT 6 12 10 10 — 38
Lake Hamilton 18 12 16 11 — 57
LADY HORNETS (6-10, 2-4) 38
Otey 6-17 0-1 12, Weaver 1-5 0-0 3, Anderson 1-4 1-1 3, Allen 2-8 2-4 7, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Miller 1-1 0-0 2, Patton 4-5 0-0 9, Baxter 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 16-42 3-6 38.
LADY WOLVES (9-6, 3-3) 57
Scott 0-1 0-2 0, Catlett 0-0 2-2 2, Crone 1-1 0-0 3, Herron 4-6 1-2 10, Bullard 1-5 0-0 2, Murray 0-2 2-2 2, Humphries 3-7 2-4 8, Nelson 0-0 0-0 0, Frazier 6-7 3-4 19, Evans 0-0 0-0 0, Thompson 4-7 0-0 11. Totals 19-36 10-16 57.
Three-point field goals: Bryant 3-10 (Weaver 1-5, Allen 1-1, Patton 1-1, Otey 0-3), Lake Hamilton 9-16 (Frazier 4-5, Thompson 3-5, Herron 1-3, Crone 1-1, Murray 0-2). Rebounds: Bryant 20 (Allen 4, Anderson 3), Lake Hamilton 23 (Bullard, Humphries 6). Turnovers: Bryant 15, Lake Hamilton 16. Team fouls: Bryant 14, Lake Hamilton 13.
