After a tough beginning to their season, going 2-9 in non-league games, the Greenwood Lady Bulldogs jumped out to a 3-0 start in 5A West conference play before dropping last Friday’s contest at Farmington. To put that in perspective, Greenwood’s pre-conference schedule was brutal, including seven games against Class 6A schools (all losses) and four games against teams currently ranked among the state’s top ten regardless of classification. Their most recent loss to Farmington came on the road against the #1 ranked team in the state, a game the GHS girls led by as many as nine points in the first half.
Currently 5-10 overall, the Lady Bulldogs played on Tuesday this week against Russellville before heading to Siloam Springs on Friday, a road trip in serious jeopardy due to an expected winter storm. Next week they are slated to be off on Tuesday before hosting Mountain Home next Friday at H.B. Stewart Arena. That will close out the first half of league play in which Greenwood had four of seven games at home. They will have just three home games over the last three weeks of the conference slate. Greenwood will host Farmington in a rematch on Friday, February 13th.
Van Buren
The GHS ladies began conference play across the Arkansas River at nearby Van Buren on January 6th, escaping with a narrow four-point win, 55-51. Each team won two quarters, all by tight margins, but Greenwood managed to win the first and fourth periods by a total of seven points while the Lady Pointers won the second and third quarters by just three points to account for the four-point GHS victory. Both teams committed numerous turnovers – 52 combined.
Kylah Pearcy drained a three-pointer to open the scoring for Greenwood, then hit another one moments later to put the visitors up 10-5. The Lady Bulldogs led 12-9 after one period and clung to a 27-26 advantage at the half. The contest was tied at 38-all after three quarters before Greenwood pulled out the win in the fourth stanza.
Despite Pearcy’s two early treys, neither team shot the ball particularly well from beyond the arc. Greenwood made six of 18 three-point attempts, a decent effort, while Van Buren made just two of 23. Overall, the home team shot just under 28% to almost 45% by the visitors. Van Buren held the advantage at the free throw line, making 19 charity shots to 11 for Greenwood. Van Buren made 29 turnovers compared to 23 for the Lady Bulldogs, but it was Greenwood that scored 28 points off those turnovers to just 16 for the Lady Pointers. The home team dominated the boards with 49 rebounds to 25 for the visitors.
Individually, Kylah Pearcy kept up her frantic offensive pace this season with another 26 points, which is about four points below her current season average of around 30 points per game. She also had seven rebounds, six deflections, five steals, and two blocks. Junior Halle Fox was next on the scoring chart for Greenwood with 16 points, including a pair of three-pointers. She added five rebounds and three steals. Ashlin Rose scored five points with three boards and two assists while Trinity Spicer and Eva Booth both added three points. Ava Cranor scored two points on a pair of free throws but also had four assists and two steals.
Harrison
Three days later the GHS girls hosted their first conference game of the new year, welcoming the Lady Goblins of Harrison to H.B. Stewart Arena. After trailing the visitors in the first half, the Lady Bulldogs roared out of the locker room at halftime to dominate the second half for a convincing 63-47 victory. The home team also dominated several offensive and defensive metrics despite being outshot by the Lady Goblins, 39% to 35%.
Harrison led 17-14 after eight minutes and 28-23 at the break before Greenwood’s second half rally. The Lady Bulldogs more than doubled up on Harrison in the third quarter, outscoring the Lady Goblins, 21-9, to lead 44-37 heading into the final stanza. But Greenwood kept up the pressure over the last eight minutes, scoring 19 points to 10 for the visitors, accounting for the nice double-digit win, 63-47.
Other than shooting percentage, Greenwood was essentially tied or led in virtually all other key statistical categories. Both teams shot about the same from long distance with Harrison making one more three-pointer than the home team, 8 to 7. Both teams also had 37 rebounds and were almost even at the free throw line. But Greenwood had 20 steals and forced 35 Harrison turnovers, scoring 31 points off those turnovers and 30 points in the paint.
Kylah Pearcy netted 34 points in the contest on a pair of three-pointers, 11 two-point buckets, and six free throws. She also nabbed 10 rebounds with 10 defensive deflections for a triple-double, plus five steals and four assists. Journey Clements hit four of 12 three-point shots for 12 points as the only other GHS player in double figures. Halle Fox added seven points and Ava Cranor six points. Fox also had four rebounds, five deflections, and five steals while Cranor had two boards and four deflections. Ashlin Rose contributed four points but led the team in rebounding with 12 boards, plus five assists, four deflections, and seven steals.
Alma
Last Tuesday, January 13th, the Lady Bulldogs welcomed the Alma Lady Airedales to H.B. Stewart Arena but served as very rude hosts with an 82-53 blowout victory to move to 3-0 in conference play. The game was basically over by halftime with Greenwood leading 50-28 after two periods. Another big offensive showing in the third quarter invoked the mercy rule for the final period. Greenwood led 26-12 after the first quarter and 75-42 after the third before both head coaches pulled their starters in the fourth period. Alma’s reserves outscored Greenwood 11-7 over the last eight minutes.
The Lady Bulldogs had a red-hot shooting hand, making nearly 51% of their shots, including almost 50% from beyond the arc, making seven of 15 attempts. Alma shot less than 29%. Greenwood also dominated at the charity stripe with 21 made free throws to just seven for Alma. Greenwood outscored the visitors in the paint, 32 to 10, while both teams had 35 rebounds. The Lady Bulldogs had 15 steals and scored 15 points off 18 Alma turnovers.
Offensively, Kylah Pearcy led the way for Greenwood with another 30+ point performance, scoring 32 points in just three quarters of play. She got nearly half of her points at the free throw line with 15 made charity shots. She also had six rebounds, three assists, 13 deflections, and 10 steals, for a another triple-double. Two other GHS players reached double digits in scoring, Ashlin Rose and Ava Cranor. Rose had 15 points on six-of-eight shooting with 11 rebounds for a double-double. Cranor scored 10 points with three boards and five assists. Journey Clements netted eight points, Halle Fox and Skyler Monks scored four points each, while Trinity Spicer and Eva Booth added three points each. Fox also had three rebounds, four assists, and four deflections.
After the Alma contest, Head Coach Ryan Casalman talked about the contributions made by other players not named Kylah Pearcy. “How about Journey Clements? She hit two of her first three [three-point] shots and softened up the defense a little bit,” said the coach. As for Ashlin Rose’s 15 points, Casalman said, “She’s been playing well, she just hasn’t gotten the points. But I’ve been telling her to stay with it because she’s going to get those opportunities [to score], and tonight she did. Kylah is one of the best players in the state of Arkansas. She scored 66 points in two games [this week]. But when we can score in different ways, teams are going to have a hard time stopping us. Other players have stepped up the last three games since we got into conference play.”
Farmington
Last Friday the GHS girls traveled I-49 to Northwest Arkansas to take on the state’s top-ranked Lady Cardinals with only one loss to their name this season to an out-of-state opponent. But despite being the clear underdogs, the Lady Bulldogs led by nine points midway through the second quarter before the tide turned in favor of the hometown girls. Greenwood got into foul trouble that took the wind out of their sails early in the third period, and they could not recover.
Greenwood led 20-18 after one period and 31-30 at halftime after a Farmington rally closed the gap on Greenwood’s former nine-point lead. After picking up her third foul late in the first half, Kylah Pearcy was whistled for her fourth foul on a highly questionable call early in the third quarter, forcing her to the bench and taking Greenwood’s top scorer and best player off the floor. The Lady Cardinals quickly took advantage by outscoring Greenwood 22-8 in the quarter. Leading 52-39 at the start of the fourth stanza, Farmington nearly doubled the Lady Bulldogs in scoring, 21-11, for the 73-50 final.
The home squad shot over 45% to 37% for Greenwood, which led in rebounding, 34 to 27. But Farmington nailed 10 three-point shots to five for the visitors and won the free throw battle, 11 to 7. The Lady Cards also won the defensive battle with 19 steals, forcing 27 GHS turnovers. Farmington’s Easton McCollough led all scorers with an amazing 53 points, accounting for all 10 of her team’s made three-pointers.
For Greenwood, Kylah Pearcy, who later fouled out, and Ava Cranor both had 15 points while Journey Clements added 12 points. Ashlin Rose scored six points and Halle Fox two points. Rose led the team in rebounding with 10 boards and two assists. Cranor had seven rebounds and Pearcy five. Fox added four steals and four rebounds.
The two teams will meet again in Greenwood on February 13th, but it seems unlikely that any 5A West team can derail the Lady Cardinals from their quest for a conference title as the favorites to win the state championship. Greenwood’s only chance is to beat Farmington next month and hope the Lady Cardinals lose another game or two along the way, though that seems improbable. The real race in the 5A West is for second place behind Farmington to get the best draw possible in the playoffs.
Coach Casalman
We caught up with Head Coach Ryan Casalman after the Alma game to ask him about the quick start in conference play, knowing his team was facing top-ranked Farmington at the end of last week. Before the holidays, the big concern for Coach Cas and assistant coach Ryan Lensing was that their Lady Bulldogs would lose confidence in themselves after posting a rough 2-9 record. But those fears were quickly put to rest after the 3-0 league start.
Still, the Lady Bulldogs need to go 8-2 over the remainder of the conference schedule to finish above .500 for the season and 11-3 in league play, perhaps good enough for that coveted second seed in the playoffs. That leaves them with a slim margin for error, but it’s doable. They finished with an identical 11-3 league mark last season in earning a second-place finish in the 5A West. Of course, much of that depends on what the rest of the league does. Besides Farmington, only Mountain Home remains perfect at 4-0, with the two teams scheduled to play at Farmington this past Tuesday night.
Asked about the quick start in league play, the coach said, “It’s a testament to our kids, because mentally they could have let go of the rope. But they held on and fought it, and I’m glad we started off this way because we do have a little more confidence now and we can get after those other teams in the conference.”
Not only have the Lady Bulldogs been getting production from some of their secondary scorers to supplement the efforts of Kylah Pearcy, but the defense seems to have improved a little as well. “[Halle] Fox and [Ava] Cranor haven’t had a whole lot of varsity minutes, but I think they are starting to figure out their roles, and our defense is getting better,” agreed Casalman. The GHS ladies forced 82 turnovers in their first three games.