The Greenwood Lady Bulldogs are state champs again after their lopsided 58-35 victory over the Lady Eagles of Vilonia on Thursday night at Bank OZK Arena in Hot Springs. The 5A state title was the seventh overall in program history, all since 2010 under Head Coach Clay Reeves, their second consecutive championship, and their third in four years since the pandemic shortened season of 2020. It was also the tenth championship for Coach Reeves, including three at Greenland before coming to Greenwood 20 years ago, the most in the state among active coaches.
There are several reasons why the GHS girls were able repeat at Class 5A champions – great coaching, solid senior leadership, a strong supporting cast of players, winning tradition, plenty of state tournament experience, stellar teamwork, unselfish play, and perhaps more. But against Vilonia, and throughout the 2022-23 season, two factors loomed larger than any other between the lines, balanced scoring and tenacious defense. Both were on display Thursday night in Hot Springs.
The Lady Bulldogs’ famous pressure defense made a huge difference from the opening tip, causing numerous turnovers by the Lady Eagles, helping Greenwood build an early double-digit lead at 13-2, forcing the Vilonia head coach to call for a timeout to settle down his players, clearly rattled and frustrated by the GHS pressure that seemingly got a hand on every enemy pass. Trailing 16-4 moments later, the Vilonia girls did close the first period with a 5-0 run and trailed 16-9 after eight minutes.
Offensively, Vilonia knew about Greenwood’s twin terrors – senior Mady Cartwright and junior Anna Trusty – who typically combine forces for 35-40 points per game, and Cartwright did win her second straight championship game MVP award Thursday night. But she was just one of four Lady Bulldogs in double figures, preventing Vilonia’s defense from keying on any one Greenwood player, be it Cartwright or Trusty, who also scored in double digits along with juniors Carley Sexton and Brooklyn Woolsey.
In the first quarter alone, all four upperclassmen scored. Woolsey hit two three-pointers for six points and Cartwright buried a trey to go along with an earlier field goal for five points. Trusty drained a three as well and Sexton kissed a short jumper off the glass, accounting for all 16 points. That formula was repeated through the contest, and although senior starter Adriana Rusin did not score, she played great defense and dragged down nine rebounds to lead the team.
“She’s a tough as they come as a defender and rebounder every night,” said her coach when asked about Rusin in postgame comments. “On this team everybody is valuable, but what she does is hard to do, and it takes heart and courage and fight to do it, and she does it every single [game], and I’m proud of her.” According to Reeves, Rusin’s play is indicative of his entire roster of Lady Bulldogs.
"Our team is unselfish," said the coach, the same mantra he’s repeated all season. “They won it last year and we lost a couple valuable players [to graduation], but we had a lot of good players coming back and some young players that moved up. But the chemistry and teamwork kept getting better and better. I can’t say enough about these young ladies and how they came together and played so unselfishly. They understand what each other can do and played to their strengths.”
The Lady Bulldogs (31-2) have been ranked #1 in Class 5A all season and never faltered, going unbeaten in 5A West conference play (14-0) with 13 mercy-rule victories along the way. Their first three state tournament games against Nettleton, Little Rock Parkview, and West Memphis were much closer than many people expected, but it was a tough draw as well. Still, Greenwood had double-digit leads in all three games before winning by 11 points, two points, and 11 points. Their only two losses were in December in non-conference play against Class 6A opponents Conway and Bentonville.
Reeves also spoke of his team’s desire and preparation to reach the state finals again after winning it all last season. "This was our team goal for the year," he said. "I know it's what our players expected. It starts when they're young. They just work hard their whole career, and I know this team worked really hard."
Vilonia appeared to right its ship late in the first period with that 5-0 run, then trimmed its deficit to five points at 18-13 early in the second quarter. But the Lady Bulldogs responded with a 16-3 scoring run of their own to close out the half with a 34-16 lead, including a 12-0 sprint to end the second period. The dagger in Vilonia’s heart was an unlikely bounce on a three-pointer by GHS sophomore guard Izzy Smith in the final seconds. The corner trey hit the rim, bouncing almost straight up and off the glass before settling back into the net, pushing the GHS advantage to 18 points at halftime.
On defense, the Lady Bulldogs forced 21 turnovers on Thursday, 15 of those by steals, leading to 32 points, many of those coming in the first half, accounting for the big early lead. They also forced five turnovers in the final 2:15 of the second quarter, allowing them to quickly increase their 22-16 advantage to 34-16.
"Our kids do play hard [defensively]," Reeves said. "I think that helps our offense. That's the way we practice and we kind of focus on that every day. That can lead to offense. We have players that can move and anticipate well. They're really smart. That makes what our team tries to do really easy on me."
Greenwood’s ferocious defense and its results were not lost on the opposition head coach. "We had 21 turnovers," said Vilonia’s Jeremy Simon. "Credit Greenwood. That was their game plan. [But] if we handle the pressure, we get good shots." The Vilonia girls were young, with only one senior, and will be a force in Class 5A for the next couple years.
A steal by Trusty led to a fast-break layup by Cartwright and started the 12-point late second-quarter run for Greenwood. Woolsey followed with a steal that led to a basket by Sexton, then another Vilonia turnover led to a three-pointer by Woolsey. Another turnover ended with a basket by Sexton before Cartwright capped the 12-0 run with a steal and assist to Smith, who made the fortunate three-pointer from the right corner just before the buzzer.
"We scored several [points] there late and hit a couple of big shots," said Coach Reeves. "When Izzy hit the shot before halftime, that was a really big boost. All of them were important. This team usually [had scoring runs] at different points of games throughout the year, [and] we had a couple of runs that helped extend the lead [against Vilonia]." Thursday’s victory was the second this season by Greenwood over Vilonia, including a 77-52 win back in December.
For the Lady Bulldogs, Cartwright, Trusty, and Woolsey each finished the game with five takeaways. Greenwood also had a big rebounding edge on the offensive glass, with a 12-4 advantage, many of those by Adriana Rusin. The rebounding advantage led to a whooping 15-1 scoring edge for the Lady Bulldogs off second-chance baskets. "They beat us 15-1 on second-chance points," said Coach Simon. "That's tough to overcome."
The GHS girls steadily built on their 34-16 halftime margin until they led 51-23 at the end of three quarters. Carley Sexton and Anna Trusty started the scoring with consecutive baskets, and the quarter ended with a 7-0 run including a three-pointer by Trusty, and successive baskets by Cartwright and Sexton. In the fourth stanza that 28-point lead dwindled only slightly as Vilonia won the period, 12-7.
Coach Reeves began pulling his starters with about a minute left, allowing them to celebrate with each other and their teammates on the bench. He allowed Izzy Smith, Kylah Pearcy, and his three remaining seniors to finish the game on the floor and enjoy the 58-35 victory. Besides Cartwright and Rusin, the other GHS seniors were Ella Williams, Ashlyn Butler, and Madelyn Wilkinson. Of those three, Williams had some significant varsity minutes over the past two seasons.
Anna Trusty led Greenwood with 17 points, five steals, and four rebounds. Carley Sexton had 13 points and Brooklyn Woolsey contributed 12 points with five steals and four boards. Most Valuable Player Mady Cartwright had 13 points, five steals, four assists, and three rebounds. The senior also finished her GHS career with three state titles and as the #4 scorer in school history with 1,574 points. Trusty is #5 on that list with 1,294 points to date with another season to play.
“It’s great getting to leave Greenwood with three rings,” said Cartwright after the game. “That’s something not many people have done. It’s been great to play my whole career here because we have a pretty great fanbase.” The three-time state champion has already signed to play college basketball at the University of Tulsa next fall, and while the GHS program will miss her talent, Coach Reeves still has a lot of weapons coming back.
Trusty, Sexton, and Woolsey will all be seniors next season and have a ton of playing experience and the ability to score inside and out. Sophomore Izzy Smith and freshman Kylah Pearcy played a lot of varsity minutes this season as well, and both are solid scorers and could be starters next fall. Another freshman, Piper Potts, is listed as 6’2” and got a lot of experience as a junior varsity player, not to mention a new crop of incoming sophomores moving up from Greenwood’s excellent junior high program. So it’s clear the Lady Bulldogs will continue to be viable contenders for the 5A state title for many more seasons to come.