Bartlett tops Larkin for 7th straight win
Good coaches always find something for their teams to work on, no matter how well the team is playing. Case in point: Bartlett head coach Brad Hunt.
After watching the Hawks dismantle Larkin 52-29 Thursday evening for their seventh straight win after dropping a pair of games over Thanksgiving, Hunt's attention was already focused like a laser on Bartlett's home game 24 hours hence against St. Charles East.
"This is a quick turnaround and we have got to be better tomorrow," Hunt said. "Give Larkin credit - they out-physicaled us and really brought the game to us. But we're a natural drive-and-kick team, and when we bring the ball up and make one pass then shoot, we can't do that and we did it too many times tonight. When we played our-drive-and-kick game, we got a lot of layups and wide-open threes."
Bartlett improved to 9-2 overall and a perfect 6-0 in the Upstate Eight. Freshman guard Mackenzie Hare led all scorers with 19 points, 11 of which came in the third quarter.
Sophomore Justina Hernandez scored all 13 of her points in the first half. Junior point guard Alexis Sinclair added 11.
Larkin, which dropped to 3-8 on the season and 2-4 in the conference, got 6 points apiece from juniors Janelle Clements and Ashley Miller and 5 each from classmates Brianna Young and Aaliyah Dixon. Both Young and Dixon embodied that physical dimension that irked Hunt, as each had 10 rebounds to give Larkin a 33-30 advantage on the glass.
"We always try to come out as a team and make the extra pass and keep up our teamwork," explained Hernandez. "Coach is always encouraging us and always gives us great feedback and constructive criticism on how we played. Sometimes we forget, but this isn't completely new to us."
Hernandez wasted little time before attacking the Royals' defense. Two minutes into the game and with the score tied at 2-2, she scored a second-chance bucket after Teagan Noesen rebounded Hernandez's errant shot, then added a drive to put Bartlett on top 6-2. Sinclair then drained back-to-back 3-pointers to push the Hawks to a 12-2 lead after one.
The second stanza belonged to Hernandez, who scored 9 of Bartlett's 15 points. She kicked off a 12-0 run when she converted a breakaway layup and provided the bookend bucket on a drive with just over a minute left in the half. Young got Larkin to double digits with a trio of free throws in the final 47 seconds, but the Royals trailed 27-12 at halftime.
If Hernandez stole the Bartlett show in the second, it was Hare's time to shine in the third. She tallied 11 straight points for the Hawks to put them up 38-22, then watched as Sinclair drained a trey with nine seconds left to make it 41-22 after 24 minutes.