Mena holds on, slips past HS girls
A lack of depth helped leave Hot Springs with its third loss of the season as Mena held on for a 44-40 win over the Lady Trojans Monday afternoon at Trojan Arena.
Head coach Josh Smith had just seven players available for Monday’s matchup, but he did not make any excuses for the team.
“They played hard,” he said. “You know, Mena is undefeated for a reason. They’re finding ways to win some some close ballgames. … They’re good. They’ve got good pieces, man. They’re big; they’ve got guards; they’ve got just good combination of of it all.
“And I thought that their size was going to give us some problems, but we didn’t play bad for coming off of a four-day, no practice. We had a little bit of practice ( Sunday), but we’ve got seven girls available right now, and two of them got dinged up (during the game). So I’m not disappointed in anything. I told the girls that some of the mistakes we did make, we’ve got to go fix, learn from it and just chalk it up to what it is.”
Trailing 32-28 going into the final eight minutes of the game, senior Jaylia Reed was fouled going up for a shot after a steal, making both before she found classmate Jurnee Hicks on the edge for a 3-pointer to regain the lead, 33-32 with 5:25 to go in the game.
“Their size affected what we could do with her inside,” Smith said. “They did a great job on the backside when we had a chance to try to feed her the ball. We couldn’t get it to her when she was available. She stepped out, hit a 3 for us late and had to try to start trying to get some offense going from other spots. She’s got to step out and score. She’s a capable shooter. I mean, we’ve got to get her to take a couple more shots from out there when we can get get it to her there and not just let them sit there on top of her.”
A layup by Mena’s Madi Lyle followed by a pair of free throws by senior Kalariya McDaniel gave the Lady Trojans a single-point lead before a 6-0 spurt by the Lady Bearcats to push out to a 40-35 lead with 2:48 to go. McDaniel was fouled following a block, making one of two with Mena’s Brooklyn Pennington making one of two on the other end seconds later.
Reed was fouled with 1:11 left, converting the 3-point play to pull within 41-39, but that was as close as the hosts would get as the Lady Bearcats wrapped the game with a 3-1 run.
“That’s our first game back after (Dec. 18) at Bauxite,” said Mena head coach Scott Wright. “And, you know, come on the road to Hot Springs, it’s traditionally a strong basketball program and to get a win is wonderful, and it kind of gets us back going. We play ugly. I mean, that’s just how it is. Our free throw percentage is horrible. We don’t remember plays; we don’t do this. But for some reason, right now we’re gutting it out.
Reed dominated the court early, putting up the first eight of the Lady Trojans’ points and 11 of their first 14 as the hosts jumped out to a 14-5 lead. Gracie Lyle was fouled on a layup, making the and-one to cut the spread to six going into the second frame.
With Reed benched after taking two fouls early in the game, the Lady Bearcats made their move on a 9-2 run to take their first lead of the game, 17-16, at the 2:55 mark in the second frame. McDaniel dished in to junior Alix Frazier for a bucket seconds later before Mena’s Andrea Maechler responded with one of her own, but Reed put in a layup with 7 seconds remaining to take a 20-19 lead into the break.
Reed led all scorers with 24 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists. Hicks had 9 points, seven rebounds, two assists and a steal, McDaniel tallied 5 points, four rebounds, two blocks and two assists, and Alix Frazier rounded out the scoring with 2 points, a rebound and a steal.
Grayson Fairless led Mena with 17 points and six rebounds. Gracie Lyle and Hannah Stockton each added 7 points, Stockton with 10 rebounds, two assists and a block and Lyle three boards, two steals, a block and an assist, and Pennington had 6 points with three boards and a steal.
The Lady Trojans host Little Rock Central today at 4 p.m. at Trojan Arena.