CONWAY — The Bryant Lady Hornets were plus-5 on the boards against the North Little Rock Lady Charging Wildcats in their first-round match-up at the Class 7A State Tournament Thursday. But the Lady Cats were still plus-1 on offensive rebounds and plus-16 on turnovers — two stats the Lady Hornets just couldn’t overcome in a 53-35 season-ending loss at Buzz Bolding Arena at Conway High School.
It figured to be a tall order for the Lady Hornets who did well just to make it to State with the adversity they had to overcome during the season. They brought an 8-16 record into the contest against the 21-6 North Little Rock team that looked like just one more in a long line of tremendously talented groups produced by the athletic factory north of the river.
“We had way too many turnovers — turnovers that led directly to transition, one-on-none, two-on-one type of deals,” acknowledged Lady Hornets coach Brad Matthews. “North Little Rock’s too talented to give that many opportunities. You can’t guard them in transition. North Little Rock’s got a really good chance to win it all.
“I thought our kids played hard, fought hard,” he said. “I thought we competed and we continued to compete the whole game. That was good to see.”
The loss concluded the BHS career of seniors Aubree Allen, Peyton Weaver and Erica Smith. Senior Dezerea Duckworth, who led the team in scoring as a junior, saw her season end prematurely when she suffered a knee injury at the start of the season.
“When Duckworth went down, throughout the year I think we grew a lot,” Matthews reflected. “I think you can look at so many of our players and see growth. I think that’s a tribute to them and their hard work. We continued to have good practices all year and that’s a tribute to them as well. I think because we continued to have good practices, you could see advancement.
“Aubree, Peyton, Erica and Dezerea — we’ll miss those four great kids,” he stated. “They come from really good families. We’ll miss their production, their character. They were a good senior class for us.”
Bryant played the Lady Charging Wildcats pretty tough early on and, after North Little Rock established a lead, the Lady Hornets kept them from blowing the game up completely.
Smith scored the first basket of the game off a nice feed from Jayla Anderson but it would prove to be Bryant’s lone lead of the game.
Kiara Webb who scored 8 points and collected 10 rebounds, answered inside then Malica Monk made a steal and layup, the first of her 13 points in the game.
But Anderson scored inside and it was tied 4-4 with 3:29 left in the first quarter.
Scoring droughts, however, have plagued the Lady Hornets all season and it occurred again on Thursday just at that point. North Little Rock, sparked by guard Kyra Collier who had 17 points and nine steals, finished the first quarter with a 13-0 blitz capped by a buzzer-beating 3 from Camdyn McDaniel, the 12th player employed by the Lady Cats.
Junior point guard Jakeria Otey, Bryant’s leading scorer for the season and in the game, scored the first of her 9 points after grabbing an offensive rebound to start the second quarter. Monk answered but Weaver drained a 3 to make it 19-9. The Lady Hornets had two chances to get closer but Collier scored off a steal and Dajha Hardamon added a layup that forced Matthews to call his third timeout of the half.
When play resumed, junior guard Maddie Baxter fired in a 3 for Bryant but North Little Rock finished the half with a 26-12 lead.
The teams traded points to start the second half but the Lady Hornets who didn’t attempt a free throw in the first half, wound up 2 for 10 at the line in the second half and the lead ballooned to 22 points going into the final two minutes of the quarter.
That would prove to be North Little Rock’s largest advantage.
The Lady Hornets gamely put together an 8-2 run spurred by sophomore Rachel Miller who scored inside then stepped out to can a 12-footer. A layup by Baxter made it 38-22 before Webb added two free throws to make it an 18-point game going into the fourth quarter.
Otey made a steal and scored as she was fouled to start the final period but she couldn’t get the free throw to go and, after another North Little Rock turnover, the Lady Hornets came up empty at the line.
Still, with a stickback by Otey, a 3-pointer by Allen, a free throw from Miller and a short jumper off a steal from Otey, the Lady Hornets whittled the lead to 15 with just under four minutes left.
But another drought followed. They didn’t score again until the final minute of the game when Miller got a basket and Anderson made a steal that Otey cashed in to set the final score.
North Little Rock advances to take on the Bentonville Lady Tigers today in the second round.
