GHS sweeps at home against Greenbrier, after splitting games at Siloam Springs
The Greenwood High School senior girls and boys basketball teams both won at home last Friday night, taking a pair of 5A West Conference games from visiting Greenbrier at H.B. Stewart Arena. It was also the GHS basketball Homecoming, with the festivities conducted during halftime of the boys' contest. Earlier in the week the Lady Bulldogs won a big game on the road at Siloam Springs, while the GHS boys narrowly lost to the Panthers.
This week's schedule includes a pair of games at Huntsville on Tuesday (January 25th) before returning home for two games against Morrilton on Friday night the 28th, completing the first half of the league slate. So far, the Lady Bulldogs are in excellent shape with a 4-1 record in conference play. The Bulldogs remain under .500 at 2-3 in league play, but are still very much in the hunt for a playoff berth in the competitive 5A West. The top four finishers among the eight conference teams will qualify for play in the state tournament.
Lady Bulldogs
The Lady Bulldogs earned a hard-fought victory at Siloam Springs last Tuesday, defeating the Lady Panthers 57-49. The visitors got off to a good start and led 17-8 after the first eight minutes, and even built a 14-point lead early in the second quarter. But Siloam Springs rallied and ended up outscoring Greenwood 16-9 for the period, and trailed the Lady 'Dogs by just two points at halftime, 26-24.
Both teams scored 14 points in the third period to keep the game close at 40-38, before Greenwood won the final eight minutes of play by a count of 17-11, but not without falling behind by six points before a late rally earned them the victory. Several players contributed offensively for the Lady Bulldogs, led surprisingly by guard Lundon Williams with 17 points, who is the only ninth grader on the GHS roster. Another youngster, sophomore forward Allie Barnes, also scored in double digits with 10 points. Junior forward Haley Donald and sophomore Presleigh Atkins added eight points each, while sophomore Sammy Richards chipped in with seven points.
"Our kids came out really ready to play," said head coach Clay Reeves. "Siloam is a great program. They've got a lot of talent and they got ahead of us in the fourth quarter, but our kids just kept their heads up and kept fighting and found a way to win. All of our games [have been] close and our schedule this year is what's made these kids a lot tougher."
The Lady Panthers of Greenbrier were the opponents last Friday night, as the GHS girls won their third conference game in four tries since losing leading scorer and rebounder Endsley Evans to a medical condition two weeks ago. The junior forward is expected to return to the lineup within the next couple of weeks.
After a tight first half in which the visitors led 13-12 and 19-17 after the first two periods, respectively, Greenwood found another gear in the second half, outscoring Greenbrier 15-5 in the third quarter and 11-4 over the final eight minutes for the convincing 43-28 victory.
Leading 23-22 early in the third period, Greenwood broke the game open with a 7-0 scoring run and never looked back. An offensive rebound and basket by sophomore forward Mikayla Roberts at the buzzer gave Greenwood a 32-24 advantage after three quarters. The win improved the Lady Bulldogs' overall season record to 12-7.
The top offensive player for Greenwood was Haley Donald with 12 points. She was followed closely by Presleigh Atkins with 11 points, nine of which came off a trio of three-pointers. Sammy Richards and Lundon Williams each scored six points in the victory. Despite the win, the Lady Bulldogs had a tough night shooting the basketball, hitting just 15 of 54 field goal attempts. But a strong defense and solid rebounding helped to make up for the poor shooting.
"That's what we focus on," said coach Clay Reeves. "We did pick it up a lot better in the second half. Our kids played hard. We've got a lot of depth. We can play a lot of kids and that's what we did." Greenbrier had 24 turnovers against Greenwood's defensive pressure. The GHS girls also grabbed 23 offensive boards in the contest, led by Haley Donald with 12 total rebounds, nine of those on the offensive end of the court.
Bulldogs
At Siloam Springs last Tuesday the Bulldogs came so close to stealing one on the road, but ultimately fell to the Panthers by a score of 50-44. Leading 18-14 at the half, the Bulldogs suffered through a horrendous third period in which they scored only six points compared to 18 for the home team.
Trailing by eight points, 32-24, after three quarters, the Bulldogs won the fourth period by two points (20-18), but it wasn't enough to offset the deficit. They cut the lead to just three points with less than three minutes to play, but couldn't get any closer. "When we were down three [points] we probably needed to take a better shot," said head coach Brian Martin. "We showed a little impatience there, especially on the road. We needed to get a good shot. But we battled to try to get one on the road, but came up a little short, losing by six." The loss dropped them to 1-3 in league play. The 'Dogs are winless on the road in 5A West games.
Junior guards Ryan Lensing and Braden Suter led Greenwood in scoring at Siloam Springs with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Another factor in the game was the disparity in free throw attempts between the two teams. Incredibly, the Bulldogs only got to the line eight times in the entire game, while the Panthers took 23 charity shots. "You're not going to get calls on the road," admitted the coach. "We've got to do a better job on the road of being aggressive and getting to the line."
Facing a must-win scenario for the second straight week, the Bulldogs hosted Greenbrier for Homecoming last Friday and played well from start to finish, notching a huge 47-45 win in a tough-fought contest. After building a 10-point margin in the second quarter, the Bulldogs watched as the visitors climbed back into the game with a 6-0 run just before halftime, and the lead was never more than four points for the remainder of the game.
The scoring started slowly, with Greenwood leading 1-0 through the first two-and-a-half minutes, before a 4-0 scoring run by the Panthers. But the Bulldogs rallied with a 12-8 run to finish the first eight minutes on top, 13-12. A Ryan Lensing three-pointer increased the GHS lead to 22-14 at the 4:14 mark of the second quarter, followed by a driving basket from sophomore guard Drew Morgan for a 24-14 lead, the biggest of the game. Trailing 26-16, Greenbrier then went on a 6-0 scoring run to end the half down four points at 26-22.
The visitors led twice by a point in the third period, but Greenwood retook the lead for good after a three-point play by Ryan Lensing late in the quarter. Ahead 36-34 after 24 minutes, the Bulldogs managed to stay ahead by a narrow margin throughout the final period, but never by more than two baskets.
When senior forward Billyjack Freeman missed two free throws with 11 seconds remaining, that left the door of opportunity wide open for the Panthers, needing a field goal to tie the game and a three-pointer to win it in regulation. But Greenwood played smart defense, avoiding a foul, and forced Greenbrier to take a long-range shot at the buzzer that missed the mark, preserving the win.
The Bulldogs scored all of their second-half points inside or from the free throw line. "We wanted to be aggressive, whether it was feeding the post or off the dribble," said Coach Martin. "We stuck to the game plan, and it worked for us. Normally, we hit a lot of perimeter shots. Tonight, we wanted to attack the basket and get to the free throw line."
Greenwood (9-8, 2-3) scored just five field goals in the second half, but all of them were inside. The 'Dogs added 11 free throws, but also missed three charity shots over the last 39 seconds. Greenwood also won the battle of the boards with a 31-19 rebounding margin over the Panthers. "We got some good offensive rebounds and stick backs at crucial times," said Martin. "In a game like that where it's physical, rebounding is absolutely crucial."
Greenwood senior guard and defensive specialist Shawn Hankins did a good job on Greenbrier's top scorer, holding him to only 12 points, including just three of 15 shooting from the field. "Our goal was to make him earn everything he got," said Martin. "Shawn did a an excellent job. That's great senior leadership from him." Ryan Lensing led Greenwood with 20 points. Sophomore Cole McAllister had eight points and five rebounds. Senior Chris Caudle had six points and seven boards. Greenwood finished with only four turnovers in the second half, and shot 16 of 36 from the field for the game, or 44 percent.