In their final tune-up before conference play begins this coming Friday, the Greenwood Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs both traveled to north central Arkansas last week to participate in a holiday tournament in Mountain Home. Each team played three games in three days, and the GHS girls rallied from a halftime deficit against Fayetteville in the championship game to earn the victory and the tournament title. The event began on Monday the 29th and concluded on New Year’s Eve.
About 10 days prior to leaving for Mountain Home, both GHS teams earned home victories over Class 7A schools. On December 18th the Bulldogs defeated Fort Smith Southside by a score of 69-59, with Ryan Padilla, Dustin Lunsford, and Matt Ludwig each scoring in double figures. The next evening, the Lady Bulldogs hosted Bentonville and coasted to a 69-45 win, led by Megan Hartness with 32 points.
Lady Bulldogs
The Greenwood varsity girls improved their season mark to an impressive 13-1 with their trio of wins at Mountain Home. GHS Head Coach Clay Reeves was pleased with his team’s play after the Lady Bulldogs easily defeated both Mountain Home and Pulaski Academy by comfortable margins, before facing Fayetteville in the tournament finals.
The Lady Bombers of Mountain Home were the first victims of Greenwood’s fast and aggressive style of play. The GHS girls outscored the host team by a wide margin (21-9) in the first period and 26-7 in the second stanza to make the halftime score 47-16. Coach Reeves emptied the bench in the second half and Greenwood scored just nine points over the final two quarters, making the final 56-24.
Senior guard Megan Hartness led the scoring for Greenwood with 20 points, followed by senior Brittany Branum, who also chipped in offensively with 10 points. Alyssa Crase added nine points, while senior Sarah Elkins contributed seven points.
Up next for Greenwood was a good Class 5A team in Pulaski Academy, sporting a gaudy record of 11-1 overall, and it turned out to be a very competitive game, at least until the fourth quarter. The Lady Bulldogs led 21-16 after one period and 27-23 at the half after both teams struggled to score in the second quarter.
Greenwood won the third stanza by a margin of 14-10 to boost its lead to 41-33 heading into the final eight minutes. But the Lady Bulldogs pulled away with a big fourth quarter, scoring 25 points and holding Pulaski Academy to 16, making the final margin of victory 17 points.
Brittany Branum led the scoring for Greenwood with 20 points, nine of which came at the free throw line. Megan Hartness also scored nine of her 16 points at the charity stripe, while Maddie Goodner contributed 13 points as well.
After victories in the first two rounds, the tournament finale was played last Wednesday on New Year’s Eve, with Greenwood and Fayetteville squaring off in a rematch for first place. The two schools faced one another earlier this season with Greenwood coming out on top in a tight one, 58-56.
If anything, the rematch proved even more challenging for Greenwood. Not only were they playing on a neutral court rather than at home, but they also fell behind early and trailed for most of the game. Class 7A Fayetteville led 16-9 after one period and 26-19 at the intermission.
But the tone of the game changed drastically in the second half, with the GHS girls ramping up their defense and doubling their first half offensive output, scoring 19 points in the third quarter to lead by three points (38-35) after three periods of play.
They put the game away in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Lady Purple Dogs 16-13 to account for the 54-48 final score. Hartness led the team in scoring with 21 points, including nine free throws, while fellow senior Sarah Elkins added 15 points.
“We had a little break there at Christmas, but we came into [the tournament] and played well,” said Coach Reeves. “We played Mountain Home on Monday and played really well. Pulaski Academy was 11-1 and had played some really good teams, but we stepped up and pulled away at the end.
“Obviously that was the second time we had played Fayetteville. We got down 12-14 points in the first half, were down at half, but came out and played a lot better in the second half and won by six points. So we played some really good teams over the holidays, which will make up better for conference.”
Asked about his team’s performance so far heading into league play, Reeves sounded confident. “I’ve seen a lot of good things out of our team, but I still see a lot of areas where we can continue to grow and get better. We have conference for a couple of months and then hopefully the state tournament, but we’ll just keep trying to get better every day in practice and in every game.”
Bulldogs
The GHS boys also opened tournament play against the host Mountain Home Bombers, but struggled to find the basket offensively and lost badly, 65-36. The Bulldogs reached double digits in scoring only in the third period with 12 points. They trailed 19-8 after eight minutes and 32-15 at the half. “Mountain Home came out and shot the ball really well against us,” said Coach Martin.
Despite their offensive woes, several players did get into the scoring column, led by senior guard Ryan Padilla’s seven points. Junior Dustin Lunsford and junior exchange student Giovanni Germana both scored six points each, while three others scored four points each, including senior Matt Ludwig, junior Chase Sanders, and sophomore Devin Gilbert.
On Tuesday the GHS boys faced the Norfork Panthers, traditionally a strong Class A program that entered the game with a winning record. But the Bulldogs clearly had a size and athletic advantage over Norfork, and pressed both to good effect. Greenwood took the early lead and never gave it up, building a 21-11 margin after one period and led 31-18 at the half.
The two teams played even in the third quarter, with both scoring 14 points. Leading 45-32 after three periods, the Bulldogs maintained their double-digit advantage over the final eight minutes, winning by a score of 57-44. Ryan Padilla paced the offense with four three-points and 19 points. Senior Drake Lee added 14 points, while Matt Ludwig and Giovanni Germana added six points each.
“Norfork is a small school that’s won a lot of games,” said Coach Martin. “They are very well coached. Ryan Padilla and Drake Lee really carried us offensively. We were real aggressive in attacking the basket. We had a little bit of a size and athletic advantage. We got a good win there.”
Greenwood’s third and final game of the tournament was last Wednesday against the Class 5A Paragould Rams, and once again the lack of consistent offense plagued the Bulldogs, especially early in the game. They mustered only 15 total points in the first half, trailing 14-5 after one period and 27-15 at the intermission.
Things improved offensively for the Bulldogs in the second half, but the damage was done. Although Greenwood managed to trim its deficit to just seven points early in the second half, Paragould outscored Greenwood 14-12 in the third period, and 18-15 in the final stanza for the 59-42 victory.
Junior Dustin Lunsford led the ‘Dogs in scoring with 10 points, the only GHS player to reach double figures. Sophomore Luke Hales came off the bench in the second half to score eight points and help with rebounding. Drake Lee and Devin Gilbert also finished the game with seven points each.
“Paragould was a big team,” said Coach Martin. “They had some size and they shot the ball well early in the game. They had four threes in the first half against us. We had a tough time overcoming the halftime deficit. Overall it was a good three games for us, getting ready for conference play this week.”
Greenwood opens 7A/6A Central league play Friday night at home against Class 7A Bryant, and Martin was asked if he was comfortable with his team’s performance so far. “We’re starting to get comfortable with our rotation now,” he said. “There are certain guys that are logging a lot of minutes for us, and there are guys that are coming off the bench and spelling the starters. We’re starting to find our comfort zone a little bit.”
As for the wacky 7A/6A conference and playoff format, Martin said, “We know the 6A games are the most important in the conference. We’re just going to use the 7A games as non-conference games, since they really don’t count against your [record] trying to make it into the state tournament. So Friday we’re going to try and use it to get ready for Siloam Springs on Tuesday, which is a bigger game.
“We just want to get better every game and play our best in February,” he added. “We’re definitely better now that we were a few weeks ago when we got started. Our football guys have got their legs under them and we seem to be playing a little better. We’re just hoping to shoot the ball better and take care of the ball and get some 6A wins.”
The other 6A schools in the conference include Alma, Russellville, and Siloam Springs, with each of the three schools playing a home-and-home series with Greenwood for a total of six 6A games for each team, with the top three finishers earning a berth in the post-season state tournament.