Fresh off of a 61-31 rout of Little Rock Mills, the Hot Springs Lady Trojans made quick work of visiting Magnolia Tuesday night at Trojan Fieldhouse.
Ariana Guinn had three steals and 11 points in the first quarter as Hot Springs built a commanding 16-2 lead before cruising to a 53-21 win. The Lady Trojans forced 19 turnovers in the game while limiting Magnolia to just six points in the first half.
"That's been our focus from day one; we want to up the tempo and put pressure on people," Hot Springs coach Josh Smith said. "We feel like we've got a deeper bench this year than in the past, and we can get into it defensively. We were able to play quite a few different defenses and it kept them off balance."
Guinn added four points in the second quarter while Imani Honey connected on a three-pointer to give Hot Springs a 20-2 lead early in the second quarter.
After Magnolia's Ashanti Humbert and Diamond Love combined for four points, Guinn and Kiah Beauford responded with baskets of their own to stretch the Lady Trojans' lead to 29-6 at the half.
Guinn finished with a game-high 17 points.
"She's like the Energizer bunny out there; when it gets going for her, it's going to come in bunches and it's going to come in a hurry," said Smith. "She rides that momentum and it really gets the team playing fast with her."
Holding a commanding lead, Smith seized an opportunity to rest his starters and give minutes to the bench late in the game. 10 players scored at least two points in the second half as Hot Springs pushed its lead to 45-16 after three quarters before coasting to victory.
"We want to be able to get into the bench and get them some experience," Smith said. "We have seven juniors and five sophomores, and they're stepping up and we want them to play more. They're fast and they're aggressive. Any moments that they can get on the floor is a plus for us."
Sophomores Allie Clark, Alivia Erby and Markiah Meadows combined for six points in the fourth quarter while the Lady Trojans held Magnolia to just five points to set the final margin.
Honey finished with 12 points and Nya Moody had seven, including one shot from behind the arc. Kayleigh Sneed paced Magnolia with five points while Humbert, Kendall McMahen and A'kirany Walker each scored four points.
"We played probably nine or 10 people in the first half, and I know we got everybody in after that," said Smith. "We were able to play all 14 tonight. We really feel like if we need to, we can touch everybody on the bench this year."
Improving to 3-0 on the season, the Lady Trojans will host Class 7A Springdale at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the Trojan Hoopfest before traveling to crosstown rival Lakeside on Tuesday.
"We've got competition coming Saturday, so we get to find out what we're made of right now against a bigger school," Smith said. "It's good that we had a little break, but hopefully this can give us some momentum and we can play well on Saturday."
Sports on 11/30/2017