The Greenwood Lady Bulldogs continue to put together a fine season on the heels of their Class 5A state championship in 2012. After their long winning streak of over 30 games was snapped in mid-December with a loss to Bentonville, the GHS girls traveled to Mountain Home after Christmas for a three-day tournament, claiming the trophy with consecutive victories over Mountain Home, Rogers, and Fayetteville. But last Friday the Lady Bulldogs opened 7A/6A Central conference play on the road at Little Rock Parkview, winners of last year’s 6A state title, and lost in a squeaker, 56-54.
Greenwood fell behind 17-9 after the first eight minutes of play, but closed the gap in the second period to trail 28-25 at the half. They tied the score at 40-40 after three periods, but the Lady Patriots won the final period by a score of 16-14 to notch the narrow victory. Megan Hartness led the scoring for the Lady Bulldogs with 16 points, while Lundon Williams added 14. Sammy Richards and Allie Barnes each scored eight points in the contest for Greenwood.
A week earlier and two days after Christmas, Greenwood defeated the host team, Mountain Home, 60-47, to kick off their three-day tournament run. The game was close for a half, with Greenwood trailing 27-26 at the intermission. But the Lady Bulldogs took charge in the second half, scoring 21 points in the third quarter to take a 47-36 advantage with eight minutes remaining. Williams led the way with 22 points, followed by Haleigh Henson with 12 and Hartness with 10 points.
The following day Greenwood demolished the Rogers girls by a score of 74-38, sparked by a huge first half barrage of three-pointers from Lundon Williams (4) and Henson (3). The Lady Bulldogs scored 19 points in the opening period and 28 points in the second quarter to take a 42-23 lead at the half. Williams had 22 points, Henson 13, and Hartness 11 points to lead the GHS scoring.
On December 29th the Lady Bulldogs claimed the tournament title with a 64-37 win over the Lady Purple Dogs of Fayetteville. Greenwood scored 18, 19, and 20 points, respectively, in the first three periods before coasting to the easy win. Henson sparked the first half scoring with a trio of three-pointers and finished the game with 13 points. Sammy Richards added 10 points, but it was junior guard Lundon Williams who once again led the GHS scoring with 18 points.
GHS head coach Clay Reeves, the architect of multiple state titles in his coaching career, two of those at Greenwood, said of the holiday tournament, “We were glad we got to play, with all the ice and snow. We got to play a good 6A school in Mountain Home and two 7A schools in Fayetteville and Rogers, to help prepare us for our conference. Those were good games for us. We’re trying to play as many of the larger classification [schools] as we can.” But even considering that tougher competition, Reeves’ girls are 13-2 on the season and 0-1 in league play.
After the earlier loss to Class 7A Bentonville, the Lady Bulldogs traveled to Little Rock Central and won. “Our girls played really [well] against Central,” said Reeves. “We have some ups and downs in practice and in games, and we’re trying to get that straightened out to where we stay focused the whole time. [But] now we’ll be in a regular routine with our conference – two games a week – and that kind of adjusts our practices a little bit. We’re getting where we want to [be]. But we still have 13 games conference games left against some great teams, and we still have some improvement to do and a lot of things to work on. But every day of practice and every game is getting us ready for the state tournament,” said the coach.
Against Parkview, the GHS girls got off to a slow start. “We didn’t come out ready to play,” said the coach, “which really surprised me. We always come out ready to play. Maybe it was that first conference game. But we finally settled down and played a little bit better. We never did get ahead, but we had the ball several times [with the score] tied up. But Parkview’s got a great team. They won the 6A state championship last year. But as coaches and players, we all learned a lot from that game, what we need to improve on. We’re going to keep getting better because of the competition that we’re playing.”
The Lady Bulldogs hosted Fort Smith Southside this past Tuesday at H.B. Stewart Arena, and will travel to Little Rock Hall on Friday night, as the 7A/6A Central conference schedule shifts into high gear. As in football, both GHS teams and all 6A schools in the state will qualify for the state tournament in early March. The Lady Bulldogs will be trying to win their conference, of course, but perhaps even more importantly, they will be earning points toward one of the four top seeds in the 6A tournament.
Little Rock Parkview is to basketball what the Greenwood Bulldogs are to football – perennial champions. In fact, according to the Arkansas Activities Association website, the Patriots have won 12 state basketball titles since 1971, including three-in-a-row in Class 6A. The Bulldogs have won three consecutive football titles, the first two in Class 5A before capturing their third straight championship last December in their first season in 6A. Ironically, Greenwood defeated Parkview twice during the season, once in conference play and again in the playoffs.
But while Greenwood had its way on the gridiron, the Patriots turned the tables last Friday when the two schools met for the first time on the hardcourt in 7A/6A Central conference play. Starting two guards already committed to play college basketball in the Southeastern Conference, Parkview outscored the ‘Dogs 22-9 in the first period and never looked back, rolling to a lopsided 91-34 win. Greenwood trailed 57-19 at the half and 81-31 after three periods. Senior Ethan Clark had 13 points for the Bulldogs, while senior Austin Harris added seven points.
Greenwood faired much better in a post-Xmas tournament in Siloam Springs, winning two of three games and claiming third place. With the help of a huge second half, the Bulldogs defeated Wagoner, Oklahoma in the opener on December 27th by a score of 76-55. Greenwood scored more than 20 points in each of the final two periods, blowing open a game that was close at the half. Clark had 22 points, while senior Drew Caple added 20, including six three-pointers in the game, and senior Colton McEvoy chipped in with 14 points.
The following day the Bulldogs returned to face the Shiloh Christian Saints, also featuring a player committed to play college ball at Creighton University. But the Saints led only 36-34 at the half, before pulling away in the third quarter, outscoring Greenwood 20-13 in the period. The final score was 67-57 in favor of Shiloh Christian. Clark scored 23 points to lead the way for Greenwood, while Caple and McEvoy had 10 points each, and Evan Lensing added a trio of three-pointers with nine points.
The consolation game featured Greenwood against Tahlequah, Oklahoma on December 29th. Coming from behind after trailing at the half, the Bulldogs scored 13 and 20 points, respectively, in the final two periods, holding Tahlequah to just 15 second-half points for the 62-56 GHS victory. Ethan Clark had 17 points to lead the scoring for Greenwood. McEvoy added 13 points while Caple and Lensing had nine points each. Counting the opening conference loss to Parkview, the Bulldogs are 7-7 on the season.
In his third season at the helm, GHS head coach Brian Martin was refreshingly candid about his team’s predicament at the beginning of conference play in their first season as members of the powerful 7A/6A Central. “We just lost Jansen Stein [for the remainder of the season] to a shoulder injury, and losing Drew Morgan after the H. B. Stewart Classic, we’ve had to change a lot of things,” said the coach.
“Those are two guards that logged big minutes. So we’re a little limited at the guard spot. We’ve had to make some adjustments on the fly, and basically used the Christmas tournament as a chance to look at some new things, both offensively and defensively. When you lose two core players like that, it kind of changes some things. Late December is a time when you really want to start getting your rhythm, [but] we kind of had to start over. But the kids have responded,” said Martin.
As for the lopsided loss in the league opener on the road, the young coach didn’t seem too disturbed, nor should he be, considering that Parkview has clobbered just about everyone else they’ve played this season too. “We opened up conference [play] against Parkview, the top team in 6A, and that was a tough test for us,” he said. “Those guys were extremely athletic and quick, and they’ve got two SEC [caliber] guards. It was very challenging for our guys, needless to say.”
But the Bulldogs hoped to get back in the win column and even their conference record this past Tuesday night, hosting Fort Smith Southside at H.B. Stewart Arena. “They beat us by two [points] early in the year,” said Martin. “So we’re looking forward to tomorrow night, having our first conference home game.”
The coach also acknowledged that the competition doesn’t get any easier with Friday’s upcoming opponent. “We go to Little Rock Hall Friday, the two-time defending 7A champ,” said Martin. “They’ve got Bobby Porter, who has committed to the Hogs, so that will obviously be a challenge. This time of year we’ve just got to get better. Everybody’s going to the [6A] state tournament, so our job is to make sure that we’re playing our best basketball at the end of February, much like we were last year, and just compete and get better.”