The young and talented Greenwood Lady Bulldogs have a promising future, but it remains to be seen how much of that promise will be fulfilled this season. Emerging from the holidays with an 8-7 record, the GHS girls open conference play this week with road games at Alma and Clarksville.
Head Coach Clay Reeves is high on his program's potential over the next few years, with a wealth of talent in the pipeline moving up from junior high, but the ultra-successful coach is currently focused on molding his current squad into a playoff-worthy team.
"I continue to see improvement," said Reeves during an interview this past Monday. "When you play a lot of games early in the year, that's when you start finding out things you have to improve on. Fortunately, we've played [teams] that can show us things we really need to work on, and those are the things we've been focusing on the most, to try and improve.
"It's a continual process, but we're making a lot of progress," he added. "They kids are learning and understanding more of what we're doing offensively and defensively. I'm happy with the progress we've made, but we're still pushing on. We've still got a lot [of games] left in the season."
With only two seniors and three juniors on the roster, the present version of the Lady Bulldogs are extremely young, with eight sophomores and two freshmen rounding out the bench. They are talented but inexperienced, and experience only comes with playing time. Reeves currently has 8-10 players in his varsity rotation, and those players should continue to improve with more floor time.
After winning two of three games at home in the H.B. Stewart Classic in mid-December, the GHS girls also defeated both Rogers' high schools in the week prior to Christmas. They then traveled to Mountain Home last week for a three-day tournament before celebrating the New Year.
Rogers Heritage
After hosting and defeating (46-39) the Lady Mountaineers of Rogers High School on December 20th, the Lady Bulldogs made the trip to Northwest Arkansas two days later to face the Lady War Eagles of Rogers Heritage, coming away with a 45-27 non-conference victory.
Both teams were sluggish offensively in the first period, with Greenwood holding a meager 5-4 advantage after eight minutes. But a huge second quarter propelled the Lady Bulldogs to a commanding 28-10 halftime lead. Heritage never recovered as both teams scored 17 points in the second half.
Senior forward Sara Reeves had a big game. The coach's daughter led Greenwood with 17 points, the only GHS player in double digits. Sophomore guard Kyiah Julian was next with nine points, followed by freshman guard Jaelin Glass and sophomore guard Susannah Stein with seven points each.
Mt. Home Tournament
On December 26th the team traveled to North Central Arkansas for three days of stiff competition at Mountain Home, and Greenwood's first opponent the following morning was a familiar one – the Morrilton Lady Devil Dogs. It was the third meeting this season between the two teams.
Having split the previous two contests, the rubber match took place at 10 a.m., and the unusual start time plus the Christmas break likely contributed to the lack of offense by both teams.
Morrilton was completely shutout in the first quarter and trailed 7-0 after eight minutes. Greenwood led 16-7 at the half and 27-19 heading into the final stanza. The Lady Devil Dogs trimmed the GHS lead by three points, but ultimately lost by five, 36-31.
No Greenwood player reached double figures in scoring. Kyiah Julian led the squad with nine points. Freshman forward Harley Terry was next with eight points, while Jaelin Glass and junior forward Kaila Cartwright both scored six points each.
The next day the Lady Bulldogs faced Watson Chapel, the defending Class 5A state champions, and lost 52-36. Greenwood made it a game in the first half, trailing by only two points (26-24) at the break. But an 18-4 third quarter scoring advantage sealed the win for Watson Chapel.
Kyiah Julian led the Lady Bulldogs in scoring with 15 points. Sara Reeves contributed 10 points in the loss.
Greenwood's tournament finale was against the host Lady Bombers of Mountain Home, another quality Class 6A team, and the game was a contrast of two halves. The Lady Bombers won the first two quarters 29-18, while Greenwood won the final two periods 22-16.
Leading 16-11 after eight minutes, the Mountain Home girls added to their halftime margin by outscoring Greenwood 13-7 in the second quarter. The Lady Bulldogs reciprocated in the third period, winning the scoring battle 12-6 to cut their deficit to 35-30, but ultimately lost 47-40.
Kaile Cartwright led the Lady Bulldogs offensively with 12 points. Harley Terry added seven points, Kyiah Julian six points, sophomore guard Kenzie Smith scored five points, and Jaelin Glass had four points. The loss moved Greenwood's overall record to 8-7 prior to this week's conference games.