BENTONVILLE -- It didn't take too long for Tom Halbmaier to see how Bentonville High's girls would react after going 16 days between their first and second games.
The Lady Tigers' defensive play and transition offense were too much for Bryant as Bentonville claimed a 48-23 victory Thursday during the opening night of the Crabtree Invitational in Tiger Arena.
Bentonville High 48, Bryant 23
Bryant^6^0^10^7^—^23
Bentonville^12^15^9^12^—^48
Bryant (1-3): Loveless 6, Williams 5, Selig 4, Raylford 2, Ratliff 2, Walker 2, Rogers 2.
Bentonville (1-1): Hargus 13, Hughes 10, Roberts 10, Clark 6, Kash 4, Palasak 2, Hernandez 2, Skidmore 1.
Crabtree Invitational
at Tiger Arena, Bentonville
Thursday’s Scores
Girls: Clarksville 72, Wynne 15
Boys: Clarksville 67, Wynne 57
Girls: Bentonville High 48, Bryant 23
Boys: Bryant 60, Bentonville High 41
Today’s Games
Girls: Clarksville vs. Bryant, 3:30 p.m.
Boys: Clarksville vs. Bryant, 4:45 p.m.
Girls: Bentonville vs. Wynne, 6 p.m.
Boys: Bentonville vs. Wynne, 7:30 p.m.
"They came out and were ready to go," Halbmaier said. "I was pleased with the overall effort in terms of the defensive intensity. I thought our length got a lot of deflections, and we missed a lot of 50-50 balls too.
"We capitalized a lot in transition. With us being undersized, Abby Roberts did a great job inside dropping from a guard to power forward and being able to compete against a girl 5 inches taller. Lauren Hargus did a great job attacking the basket. There is some stuff we still need to work on, but we can watch film and learn from it."
Bentonville (1-1) jumped out to an early 10-2 lead and led 12-6 after one quarter before the Lady Tigers blew the game open. Hargus scored seven of her 13 points in the second quarter as Bentonville shut out Bryant (1-3) over those 8 minutes and extended its lead to 27-6 at halftime.
The Lady Hornets scored five straight points to start the second half and closed within 27-11, but Bentonville pushed its lead back to 36-16 to end the third quarter.
"We're very inexperienced offensively," Bryant coach Brad Matthews said. "I thought Bentonville was able to get some pressure on us and take us out of our comfort level, and we were a little timid.
"Bentonville is a good team, and if you give them anything they are going to take it. They're one of the best transition offenses in the state, and we were on our heels. We weren't as aggressive as we needed to be when they got on us."
Roberts and Avery Hughes each added 10 points for Bentonville, which plays Wynne in a 6 p.m. game today. Raven Loveless had six points for Bryant, which plays Clarksville in a 3:30 p.m. game.
Boys
Bryant 60, Bentonville High 41
Braylon Steen had 17 points to lead a trio of Bryant players in double figures as the Hornets improved to 3-0 over winless Bentonville.
Romen Martin added 15 and Calvin Allen 11 for Bryant, which led 26-17 at halftime and 45-31 after three quarter. Michael Shanks had 14 to lead Bentonville (0-2), which plays Wynne at 7:30 p.m., while Jordan Hemphill added 11.
Girls
Clarksville 72, Wynne 15
Meagan Payne scored 11 of her 19 points in the first quarter and Clarksville routed Wynne in the opening game.
Zoie Harvey added 11 for Clarksville, which led 36-1 after one quarter. Destiny Jones and Meghan Klerk each had for four points for Wynne.
Boys
Clarksville 67, Wynne 57
Clarksville outscored Wynne 24-14 in the fourth quarter to take the game after the Panthers had let an early 12-point lead slip away.
Juan Hernandez led a trio of Clarksville players in double figures with 19 points while Trace Thomas added 17 and Mekhi Burnett 13. Tyler Hutchieson had 19 points and Devon Light 10 for Wynne.
Sports on 12/02/2016