Lady Cats cruise in home opener

Conway girls basketball coach Janet Taylor knows having a tough nonconference schedule is key to getting her Lady Cats ready for 7A-Central Conference play.

There wasn’t much tough about Thursday night’s home opener, though. Conway proved to be too much for shorthanded J.A. Fair and cruised to a 52-27 win at Wampus Cat Arena.

“Anytime you get a W, you’re pleased with it,” Taylor said. “It always feels good when you can clear your bench and get quality minutes.”

Ten players scored for the Lady Cats. Tamara Heard and Taylor Gault led the way with 10 points each, all in the first half.

That was a result of how well the team played together.

“Our chemistry was good,” Taylor said. “That’s going to be the glue that holds us together. We have a lot of depth on the bench.”

Conway was never threatened in the game. In fact, the Lady Cats shut out the Lady War Eagles in the first quarter (18-0). That lead extended to 32-6 at halftime.

“We did a good job of sharing the ball,” Taylor said. “We had a lot of unselfish plays.”

Fair didn’t get on the board until Chesery Lowe scored at the 4:16 mark in the second quarter. By that time, Conway had a 24-2 lead.

The Lady Cats led by as many as 30, which occurred three times. The last was when Madison Foster hit a basket at the 3:53 mark in the second to swell the lead to 42-12.

“We were getting shots tonight (Thursday),” Taylor said. “We did a pretty good job of shot selection.”

The Lady War Eagles were only able to get as close as 23 from there — which came when a basket by Danielle Gatewood cut the deficit to 48-25 with 1:57 left.

To go along with Heard and Gault’s 10 points, Alexus Clardy finished with seven, while Jasmyn Wilkins had six.

Gatewood had 10 to lead Fair. Taylor Matlock finished with nine.

Thursday night also served as a fundraising event for the Lady Cats. Conway hosted a “Pink Zone” event to raise money for breast cancer awareness.

The win is something Taylor hopes can serve as a springboard into the rest of the season.

“That’s just a good starting point for us,” Taylor said. “This is probably the toughest preseason schedule we’ve had. Our conference will be tough. We want to be poised and ready by that point.”

The Lady Cats will continue the nonconference portion of its schedule on Dec. 1 at Jacksonville.