Second loss for LHJH girls ends their season
BRYANT — Lake Hamilton’s junior girls struggled to get shots to fall Tuesday night as they lost 43-34 to North Little Rock in the semifinals of the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference tournament.
“We struggled to score all night,” head coach Maribeth Richards said. “North Little Rock has two big girls, a 6-3 and a 6-1, and every time we would go hard inside, they would do a really good job of making us alter our shots.
“One of the main things we talked about during shoot around was how important rebounding every possession was in order for us to win. We rebounded well in spurts, but not consistently.”
The junior Lady Wolves trailed 16-8 after one period, but they rallied in the second. Trailing by 10 early in the period, Lake Hamilton started to press defensively, cutting the deficit to 24-21 at the break.
“In the second quarter, we jumped in a man press,” said Richards. “We were down 10 when we started pressing and cut the lead to 3 by halftime. We were in a bit of foul trouble at the half, so I changed back to our zone. I felt like we came out flat after that, and we never could get our intensity back up where we needed it to be.”
North Little Rock came out strong in the second half, outscoring the junior Lady Wolves 19-13 to advance to the finals.
Tia Mullenix paced the Lady Wolves with nine, grabbing five rebounds with two steals. Aspen Thornton added six points with two steals. Aryn Hughes and Hayleigh Wyrick added five points each.
“We had a great year,” Richards said. “We finished 24-2 and were the regular season Central Arkansas Junior High Conference champions. Our conference is comprised of six 7A schools and three 6A schools.
“The only two teams the girls lost to all season were to two 7A schools (Conway Blue and North Little Rock) that are consistently powerhouses in
high school. I’m so proud of the girls work ethic and grind every day to get better. I’m also so excited to see where they go in high school. They are going to be a fun group to watch for the next three years.”