Both GHS varsity basketball teams concluded a slightly abbreviated regular season this past Tuesday night against 5A West conference foe Siloam Springs, splitting the two games. Next comes the conference tournaments to determine the four league representatives (girls & boys) to move on to the state playoffs and their seedings.
It was also senior night at H.B. Stewart Arena. The Lady Bulldogs honored five seniors before winning their game handily, 82-41. The GHS boys saluted three seniors but stumbled in their outing against the Panthers, losing 54-44. The loss dropped the Bulldogs to the fifth seed in the upcoming conference tournament. They will host Alma this Friday at 6 p.m. Greenwood has already beaten the Airedales twice this season.
Between Covid-19 issues and the recent bad weather and poor travel conditions, the Arkansas Activities Association delayed by a week the start of the state playoffs, allowing conferences additional time to make up missed games or to hold a league tournament to determine their post-season representatives. Last week the 5A West voted to have a tournament.
That decision meant that Tuesday’s contests ended the conference season two shy of the normal 14 games. The highly ranked Lady Bulldogs remained unbeaten against league foes at 12-0 and won their 20th game overall against three losses. The Bulldogs lost their third straight outing and fell to 5-7 against the 5A West and 9-13 overall.
The GHS girls have earned the top seed in the league tournament and advanced to the semi-finals next Tuesday, already assured of a state playoff berth, along with #2 seed Vilonia. As the fifth seed, the GHS boys must win two games to qualify for the playoffs, starting Friday night against the Airedales. A third win over Alma would lead to a trip north to Siloam Springs next Monday, where the Bulldogs beat the Panthers back in January, so winning two straight games is doable.
The 5A state tournament will be held the second week of March at Hot Springs High School, with the finals scheduled for the weekend of March 18-20 at the Hot Springs Convention Center. As the defending state champs with four returning starters, the Lady Bulldogs are heavily favored to reach the finals once again. Head Coach Clay Reeves already has eight state titles under his belt, five of which have come at Greenwood, and number nine is within reach.
Bulldogs’ Head Coach Donnie Husband and his team are in a different place, hoping to make the state tournament for the first time in his three years at Greenwood. To do so would be a major step forward for the program and lay a good foundation for the future. Besides three starting seniors, the ‘Dogs have some talented underclassmen returning next year and a junior high program brimming with good players in the eighth and ninth grades.
Lady Bulldogs 82, Lady Panthers 41
The Siloam Springs girls played well in the opening minutes and managed to fend off Greenwood’s ferocious defensive style, trading baskets for most of the first period. But with about a minute left, the Lady Bulldogs broke through to take a double-digit lead at the buzzer before blowing the game open in the second quarter.
Ahead 11-9, senior guard Kinley Fisher, the team’s leading scorer the past two seasons, hit a three-pointer near the :55 mark. A quick turnover then led to another trey 20 seconds later by junior Megan Gray, followed by a pair of free throws by Fisher, pushing the score to 19-9 after eight minutes. The Lady Panthers never recovered.
Greenwood led 28-13 midway through the second stanza before another barrage of three-pointers were unleashed by the Lady Bulldogs, the first by senior Ally Sockey. But the knockout punch came from the red-hot Fisher, who hit three-in-a-row. Junior Abby Summitt then scored inside before Megan Gray hit her second bomb, and suddenly Greenwood led 45-21 at the intermission.
As he has done all season, Coach Reeves continued to substitute freely throughout the second half, resting his starters and keeping his players fresh. Two minutes into the third quarter all of Greenwood’s starters were out of the game, but the next wave of players continued to pull away, increasing their lead over the Lady Panthers.
Gray added two more three-pointers and senior reserve Evan Brown hit the first of her three treys. Freshman Anna Trusty scored inside as well and Gray’s second bomb of the period pushed the score to 62-30, triggering the mercy rule for the fourth quarter. The GHS starters then returned, and Ally Sockey scored eight of the team’s next 10 points.
Ahead 72-39 after 24 minutes, the starters returned to the bench and the reserves finished the game, but not before Evan Brown hit two more three-pointers. When the final buzzer sounded the Lady Bulldogs had nailed down their 20th victory and finished the conference season unbeaten at 12-0.
Greenwood had three players score in double figures, led by Kinley Fisher’s 20 points. Ally Sockey added 15 points and Megan Gray had 12 on four three-pointers. Sophomore Mady Cartwright chipped in with nine points, as did Evan Brown, while Anna Trusty contributed eight points. Abby Summitt had four points.
Asked about winning their 20th game of the season, Coach Reeves claimed it hadn’t really crossed his mind. “I haven’t really kept up with it,” he said. “We were just glad to get to play again. We had three good days of practice this week, but it was good to get up and down the floor again and play against somebody else.
“We were off about seven or eight days – longer than I’ve ever been off – and our kids came back a little winded the first practice. But the next two days they were ready to go. I said something about them shooting well the first day back, and several of them said they just felt refreshed coming back. So I’m looking at that break as a positive and something good for the long run. We got a few days rest and now we’re back and we’ll go until the last game.
“Unfortunately, we’re having to play a [conference] tournament instead of playing the make-up games. We had two weeks to play three games – we played six games in about nine or ten days [earlier this season]. But maybe that was too many games for some teams. But our players are ready for the next game, whatever day it is and whoever it is. Going from one tournament (conference) to the next tournament (state), that’s okay,” said the coach.
“We’ve got to earn it again,” said Reeves of the top seed from the 5A West. “But our kids are up for that challenge. I’ve been blessed to coach for a long time, and I’m kind of old fashioned. If there are eight teams in a tournament, all eight should play in the first round. But we’re using byes, which I don’t like. I like to play. Fortunately, when we get to the state tournament there are no byes. You’ve got to play as long as you keep winning. Our kids have been there and are looking forward to getting back there again. I know that’s what their goal is.”
Bulldogs 44, Panthers 54
The GHS boys got off to a promising start Tuesday against Siloam Springs, leading 14-9 deep into the first period before the Panthers took advantage of a Greenwood turnover and scored the last four points of the quarter, though the home team still led 14-13 at the buzzer.
The Panthers quickly took the lead in the opening moments of the second period, scoring the first nine points of the quarter, extending their scoring run to 13 points. Trailing 22-14, the Bulldogs finally broke their scoring drought when senior center Braden Stein netted a bucket in the lane. Stein then scored again with the help of an assist from sophomore Hunter Houston, prompting the Panthers’ head coach to call timeout.
The Bulldogs continued their mini scoring run when play resumed, getting an inside basket from sophomore Aiden Kennon and a three-pointer from junior sharpshooter Sam Forbus, putting Greenwood back on top, 23-22. But it didn’t last, as the Panthers regrouped to lead 26-24 at the half.
Forbus stole the ball and drove almost the length of the floor for a layup to tie the score in the opening moments of the third quarter. But Siloam Springs quickly responded with a 7-0 scoring run to lead 33-26. The ‘Dogs answered back with four straight points to narrow the gap to 33-30, but that’s as close as they would come the rest of the way.
The visitors led 39-32 after three quarters and spent the final eight minutes maintaining that margin before building on it slightly. Sam Forbus scored the last five points for the Bulldogs, including a three-pointer, his fifth of the game, but it wasn’t enough as the Panthers rolled to a 54-44 victory.
Forbus led the way for Greenwood with 20 points, followed by Braden Stein with 13, the only two Bulldogs to reach double digits in scoring. Aiden Kennon added six points in the loss, but the ‘Dogs and Panthers could meet again as soon as next Monday in the conference tournament with a trip to the state playoffs on the line for the winner.
In his post-game comments, Coach Husband reflected the disappointment felt by his players. “We didn’t have enough guys play well,” he said. “We made a lot of mistakes. The end of quarter stuff was not very good. We lost the end of the first, second, and third quarters. We throw it away at the end of the first. We don’t get a shot at the end of the second, and they shoot a layup at the end of the third. That’s stuff that shouldn’t happen, and that’s on me.
“Siloam Springs did a lot of stuff we didn’t cover right,” he continued. “We made a lot of mistakes defensively. We gave up a lot of layups, and that’s on me. Evidently, we didn’t do a good enough job of teaching how to play that stuff. Hopefully, we’ll get another shot at them next week.
“We’re just making a lot of mistakes we shouldn’t make this time of the year. It’s just poor fundamental play,” he added. “We [also] didn’t have good [scoring] balance, and that’s usually when we play better, when we’ve got five guys in double figures or right at double figures [in points]. We took some good shots, but we just struggled, for whatever reason. Hopefully, we can get it corrected and play well Friday night [against Alma].”
Asked about the conference tournament and qualifying for the state playoffs, Husband explained that his Bulldogs now need to break their current losing streak and win back-to-back games. “We’ll have to win two [games] to go to the state tournament, but [first] we’ve got to play four good quarters [against Alma] to get on the bus and go back [to Siloam Springs].
“But our guys have done a great job all year,” he continued. “We didn’t play great tonight, but it wasn’t from lack of effort. They fought their tails off. I’m disappointed for them, but we just made too many mistakes, and I’ve got to do a better job of helping them, so we can clean up some of that before we step back on the floor Friday night.”