The Greenwood Lady Bulldogs basketball team are off and running this season, having already won a tournament title at Lake Hamilton High School near Hot Springs. The event was held the week of November 18th.
The GHS girls won all three games played against Bryant, Lake Hamilton, and Kirby by an average margin of victory of just over 21 points.
Head Coach Clay Reeves, back in the saddle after missing most of last season while on medical leave, was quite pleased with how his girls performed. Greenwood returns most of last year’s starting lineup that reached the state semi-finals.
Coming off a huge win (92-31) over nearby Lavaca in a benefit game on November 9th, the Class 5A Lady Bulldogs traveled to Pearcy, Arkansas on the 18th to face the Lady Hornets of Bryant, a Class 6A school in basketball.
The contest was competitive, though Greenwood won each of the first three quarters, leading 18-13 after one period, 34-22 at the half, and 52-30 after 24 minutes. Bryant managed to narrowly win the fourth quarter scoring battle, 16-14, but lost the game, 66-46.
Three Lady Bulldogs earned double digits in points, led by Kinley Fisher with 18, followed by Ally Sockey with 17, and Jaelin Glass with 13. Haven Clements added eight points as well. All of them are juniors except for Glass, who is a senior.
Three days later they returned to Lake Hamilton to face the host Lady Wolves, again winning with relative ease, 62-41. Both schools are in Class 5A and could meet later this season in the playoffs.
Having scouted Greenwood earlier in the week, Lake Hamilton was able to slow down the Lady Bulldogs’ offense in the first period and led 12-11 after eight minutes. But a 19-9 run in the second quarter had Greenwood up 30-21 at the half.
The GHS girls then won both the third and fourth quarters, 17-10 and 15-10, respectively, for the 21-point win, 62-41, keeping Greenwood in the winner’s bracket and putting the Lady Bulldogs in the tournament finals two days later.
Once again Fisher led the team in scoring with 21 points, the only Greenwood player in double figures. Sophomore Megan Gray came off the bench and hit a trio of three-pointers for nine points, while Sockey added seven points.
Haven Clements and freshman guard Mady Cartwright each contributed six points in the victory.
The tournament championship game pitted Greenwood against tiny Kirby High School located in Northern Pike County near Glenwood. Despite its size, Kirby is known as a basketball power among small schools in the state.
But the GHS girls were simply too much for the Lady Trojans. Greenwood led 13-5 after one period and 43-16 after an explosive second quarter.
The scoring leveled out somewhat in the second half as Coach Reeves cleared his bench. Greenwood led 56-27 after three periods and won the game by 23 points, 66-43.
Once again at the top of the scoring chart was Kinley Fisher with 18 points. Ally Sockey and Mady Cartwright added nine points each. As a team, the Lady Bulldogs hit eight three-pointers in the game.
Speaking of his team’s play in the tournament, Coach Reeves acknowledged that the final scores were somewhat deceptive, especially against Bryant and Lake Hamilton.
“It ended up about 20 points in both games,” he said of the margin of victory, “but both [games] were closer than that. Bryant will be a top team in Class 6A, and Lake Hamilton won their conference last year.
“Our last game was against Kirby, which is a smaller school, but they always win 30 games and get to the semifinals or finals in their classification,” he added. “It was their fifth game in five days.
“But it was a good three games to get the season started. We’re the only team that won all three games,” said Reeves.
Asked what he observed about his team during the tournament, the coach said, “Each one of those teams played us a little bit different and showed us things we’ve got to work on.
“We’re up-tempo right now, but there will be times we’ll slow it down and do some other things. Right now, with the excitement of the first of the season, I try to let some of that stuff get through our system, and then everything will calm down and [team] chemistry will continue to develop.”
Asked about his team’s offensive output, Reeves said, “We did shoot the ball well and we’ve shot it well all year. But the difference is going to be our toughness and rebounding.
“We handle the ball well, shoot it well, and pass it well. We’ve got smart players and we’re pretty athletic, but it’s going to come down to toughness and rebounding. That’s going to make the difference,” he said.
“Different [girls] played well at different times,” added Reeves. “But it’s great for us. Our other players are always ready to go.”
The coach was also pleased to be able to play a lot of his younger girls off the bench and many of them performed well.
“They are doing really well. The youngest ones are getting used to playing [varsity] and relaxing a little bit, which they have to do. They have the skills and talent, they just have to relax and cut loose and play like the older girls.”
Reeves also talked about the upcoming schedule. “We’ve got Bentonville coming up, then Van Buren and the Tournament of Champions [in Fort Smith].”
Greenwood travels to Bentonville on Thursday then hosts Van Buren next Tuesday at H.B. Stewart Arena. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. at home. The Tournament of Champions, played at Fort Smith Northside, begins next Thursday and runs through Saturday.