Well, what else is new? The Greenwood Lady Bulldogs and Head Coach Clay Reeves have done it again, winning the girls’ 5A state basketball championship this past Thursday afternoon at Bank OZK Arena in Hot Springs. Greenwood defeated Jonesboro, 60-49, in the finals of the state tournament, dethroning the Lady Hurricane as reigning champs and avenging Greenwood’s loss to Jonesboro in the 2021 quarterfinals. The GHS girls finished their season at 28-4.
The victory earned Greenwood High School its sixth girls’ state title, all since 2010 and all under Coach Reeves, who won his ninth overall championship. He also won three titles while coaching at Greenland before coming to Greenwood 19 years ago. The GHS girls have now won state titles in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2020, and 2022.
Greenwood and Jonesboro also have a significant history together in recent years, all of it in postseason play. The Lady Hurricane defeated Greenwood in the second round of the state tournament in 2016 and again in the 2018 finals. Greenwood also lost to Jonesboro in the 2019 state semifinals. In route to their 2020 state title, Greenwood defeated Jonesboro in the opening round of tournament play, then last year the Lady Bulldogs fell to the Lady Hurricane, 67-60, in the second round of the tournament. It’s become quite the rivalry between one of the largest 5A schools (Jonesboro) in the state and one of the smallest (Greenwood).
The Lady Bulldogs departed Greenwood for the Spa City on Wednesday afternoon due to the early start time (noon) for Thursday’s contest. They spent the night in a Little Rock hotel just as they did the previous Friday before last Saturday’s semi-final game against Marion played at Sheridan High School, also at noon.
“Last week we had an early start, and we came the night before,” explained Coach Reeves. “I generally don’t like to do that. But we came the night before and stayed in Little Rock in the same hotel and ate in the same restaurants. I used to be real superstitious, [but] now not as much. But we tried to do the same thing as last week, and it worked out. So, if we get a chance to come back, we’ll probably stay there again.”
For family members, fans, and others who were unhappy with last Thursday’s noon starting time for the championship game, the days and times of all state finals are pre-determined based on a rotation schedule adopted by the AAA. The 2023 state finals in Class 5A will be on Thursday evening before moving to Friday afternoon in 2024 and Friday night in 2025. The 2026 5A state finals will be played on Saturday. However, all state finals are now available for live viewing on Arkansas Public Broadcasting (PBS) television.
First Quarter
Despite the noon tip-off on a weekday, there was a nice complement of GHS fans on hand, most notably a large contingent of students who arrived by bus earlier that morning. Likewise, Jonesboro was well represented and spirit groups from both teams were present as well. The Jonesboro boys were scheduled to play the Marion boys immediately after the girls’ game, adding to the crowd.
Both teams got off to a dubious start, combing to miss their first ten shot attempts before Jonesboro senior post player Destiny Thomas was fouled and hit a pair of free throws, breaking the scoring drought. Thomas and senior point guard Ereauna Hardaway were the Lady Hurricanes’ best players and did major damage to Greenwood in last year’s second round loss, so the GHS strategy was to play zone defense and collapse on Thomas to keep her off the offensive glass.
Nearly every time the ball found Thomas, she was immediately surrounded by two or three Lady Bulldogs, limiting her ability to score, finishing the game with just two field goals, seven points, and 12 rebounds, eight of those on the defensive end. But Jonesboro had a similar task to negate Greenwood’s top scorer, Mady Cartwright, and keep her from driving to the basket, and their plan worked well.
The GHS junior went 0-for-9 from the field in the game and finished with just two points, both from the free throw line. However, she contributed to the win in other ways with five rebounds, three assists, two steals, a blocked shot, and took a big charge on defense late in the game. Fortunately, Greenwood had enough other scorers to take up the slack.
Jonesboro wasn’t as fortunate. While Hardaway led the Lady Hurricane with 22 points, only one other JHS player reached double figures in scoring. The Lady Bulldogs finished with three double-digit scorers and another with eight points, making the difference in the game. Sophomores Anna Trusty and Carley Sexton and seniors Abby Summitt and Megan Gray were the offensive stars of the game for the new state champs.
It was Summitt’s slick move along the baseline that resulted in Greenwood’s first basket as she banked one off the glass before hitting the deck. Megan Gray then followed moments later with a three-pointer to put the Lady Bulldogs up 5-2. Jonesboro answered with a basket to make it 5-4, but never again had a lead in the game.
Anna Trusty then scored five consecutive points for Greenwood, including a drive to the basket and a three-pointer, putting the Lady Bulldogs up 10-6. Moments later, Abby Summitt followed with a trey and then a long jumper near the 1:00 mark. Neither team scored over the final 60 seconds and the period ended with Greenwood on top, 15-8.
Second Quarter
Jonesboro was able to trim just a single point off Greenwood’s lead by halftime, outscoring the Lady Bulldogs 9-8 for the period. The two teams traded three-pointers to start the quarter, with Abby Summitt doing the honors for Greenwood. Anna Trusty then drove to the basket and scored, making it 20-11 at the 5:40 mark. But a pair of Jonesboro treys quickly shaved the margin to 20-17 before another Summitt bomb from the top of the key pushed the lead to 23-17, which was the score at the intermission. Trusty’s putback basket at the buzzer was ruled no good by the officials.
During the period, Coach Reeves did sub in both Adriana Rusin and Brooklyn Woolsey, neither of which figured in the scoring, though the sophomore Woolsey did launch a pair of three-point attempts. Rusin had been a starter all season before suffering a concussion before the state tournament and was just cleared to return to action before the finals. She was replaced in the starting lineup by Carley Sexton. Greenwood’s big four – Cartwright, Trusty, Gray, Summitt – never came out of the game, playing all 32 minutes, while Sexton clocked 27 minutes.
Third Quarter
The third stanza was much the same as the second, with Jonesboro struggling to close the scoring gap, but doing so by only two points. Greenwood opened with possession of the ball and was the first to dent the scoreboard on Megan Gray’s second three-pointer of the game. Following a Jonesboro free throw, Anna Trusty added a bucket inside, pushing the GHS lead to double digits for the first time at 28-18.
Jonesboro responded with a 5-0 run before Anna Trusty sank a pair of free throws to make it 30-23 near the 5:45 mark. After the Lady Hurricane cut it to 30-26, Carley Sexton connected on her first trey to keep Jonesboro at bay, 33-26. But another 5-0 run pulled the Lady ‘Canes to with 33-31 before an Anna Trusty putback near the 1:30 mark.
Sexton then drained her second straight three-pointer to lengthen the GHS lead back to seven points at 38-31. Jonesboro hit a single free throw in the final minute and the Lady Bulldogs had the ball out-of-bounds with 1.3 seconds remaining. Abby Summitt then found a hole in the defense and passed the ball along the baseline to Anna Trusty, who dribbled it once before letting go a soft buzzer beater that found the bottom of the net. Greenwood led 40-32 after three quarters.
Fourth Quarter
Carley Sexton scored the first bucket of the final stanza, putting Greenwood back up by double digits, 42-32. After the teams traded free throws, Jonesboro hit a three-pointer and Mady Cartwright drained a pair of free throws, her only points of the game. But another Jonesboro trey kept the Lady ‘Canes in the contest (45-39) with time running down, prompting JHS head coach Jodi Christenberry to call a hasty timeout.
With 4:24 remaining, play resumed, and Jonesboro went deep again with another three-pointer, making it 45-42. Anna Trusty then drove the lane and scored, but the Lady ‘Canes responded in kind on the other end of the court. But after Abby Summitt scored inside for Greenwood, Coach Christenberry called another timeout with 2:31 remaining.
Coming out of the timeout, Jonesboro drained another three-pointer, cutting the GHS lead back to two points at 49-47. But then a sequence of events occurred that helped cement the victory for Greenwood. First, upon receiving the inbounds pass under the Jonesboro basket, Abby Summitt spied a streaking Carley Sexton behind the defense past midcourt and perfectly fed her with a long pass leading to a layup.
Next, Mady Cartwright set up on defense and took a charge under the Jonesboro basket, resulting in a key turnover, leading to a pair of Megan Gray free throws on the other end, putting the Lady Bulldogs back up by six points (53-47) with less than a minute left to play. Desperate, the Jonesboro girls had no choice but to begin fouling, sending Anna Trusty to the line for a pair of made free throws (55-47) with 38.8 seconds remaining.
Another basket kept the Lady ‘Canes on life support with the slightest hope for a miracle comeback, but four more charity shots by Trusty and one by Adriana Rusin sealed the victory for Greenwood, 60-49. The Lady Bulldogs’ bench emptied with the sound of the final buzzer, rushing to midcourt to join their teammates in celebration.
Afterward, the two teams gathered at midcourt to receive their trophies. Greenwood’s Mady Cartwright was also named as the tournament most valuable player for her play against Little Rock Parkview, West Memphis, Marion, and Jonesboro, scoring a total of 60 points in the four games. Both she and Coach Reeves were also interviewed by the TV announcers. Coach Reeves later retired to the media interview room accompanied by Anny Trusty and Abby Summitt.
Final Game Stats
The Lady Bulldogs got offensive contributions from several players, led by Anna Trusty with a game-high 24 points. She was seven of 11 from the floor, including one of two from beyond the arc, and nine of 10 from the free throw line. She also had five rebounds and made five steals on defense with one blocked shot.
Abby Summitt’s final game wearing a GHS jersey was among her best, scoring 15 points on six of ten from the field, including three of six from behind the three-point line. Oddly enough, she never reached the free throw line, but did snag three rebounds and had a steal while handling the basketball almost flawlessly with only one turnover. Her senior leadership and cool demeanor were evident throughout the contest.
The other double-digit scorer for Greenwood was Carley Sexton with 10 points. Coming off the bench for most of the season, Sexton had a great state tournament as a starter, taking over for Adriana Rusin. She scored 18 points in the win over Little Rock Parkview, hit the winning three-pointer against West Memphis, and had 16 points, eight rebounds, and three steals against Marion. Besides her scoring against Jonesboro, she also had two boards and two assists while playing quality defense.
Finally, senior point guard Megan Gray did her part with eight points on two three-pointers and a pair of free throws. She also handled the ball expertly with no turnovers, had three defensive rebounds, and four assists. Cartwright had two points and Adriana Rusin had a late free throw to account for all the GHS scoring.
Comparing the teams statistically, there are a couple of glaring differences. Most notably, Greenwood prevailed by excelling at the free throw line and by causing turnovers. The Lady Hurricane shot better than the Lady Bulldogs beyond the arc, hitting eight of 22 three-point attempts (36.4%) to Greenwood’s eight of 26 (30.8%). On the other hand, the Lady Bulldogs shot better overall, but just barely, 38.8% to 37.8%. Jonesboro won the rebounding battle, 49-34.
But Greenwood had just four turnovers for the entire game, a remarkably low number, while Jonesboro had 11 leading to six additional GHS points. Also, the Lady Hurricane had a hard time at the charity stripe, hitting just seven of their 13 attempts. By contrast, the Lady Bulldogs hit 14 of 16 tries or 87.5%. If the JHS girls had hit just half of their missed free throws earlier in the game, the score would have been tighter at the end and the outcome might have been different.
For Jonesboro, point guard Ereauna Hardaway did her best to keep her team in the game, leading the Lady ‘Canes with 22 points, including a trio of three-pointers. She also had three rebounds, four assists, and two steals. But six of Jonesboro’s 11 turnovers were also her’s. Bramyia Johnson had 12 points, Destiny Thomas seven points, and Allannah Orsby five points.
Postgame Comments
Jonesboro Head Coach Jodi Christenberry and her players were the first to meet with media members in the postgame interview room, and she talked about the Lady Bulldogs with great respect. "We were hoping that this would be one of [Greenwood's] off days, [but] it wasn't," she said. "We had a game plan we were working on. [But] they started hitting shots, and that's when you have to scramble. Sometimes you gamble and [it] pays off, and sometimes it doesn't."
One of the first questions posed to Coach Reeves regarded his team’s quick start against Jonesboro, jumping ahead 15-8 after one period, powered by a trio of three-pointers. He answered, “It was good, because when you look at the other quarters, they were one or two points separating us. So almost doubling the score in the first quarter gave us that cushion. And Jonesboro being a championship team, they cut it back to [two points] with just a few minutes to go. Good teams are always going to fight back.”
As for the Lady Bulldogs and their early three-pointers, he added, “They were open, and our kids know to take that shot. Mady and Anna lead us in scoring most of the time. They do a lot of driving to the basket and that opens [the floor] up. When the opposition focuses on just one person, we’ve got good players on our team that are good shooters, and that’s what showed today. It was a great team effort.”
The Dog Pound asked Coach Reeves about his defensive strategy against the Lady ‘Canes. “We’ve only played [this defense] four games this year, and it was the last four games. We’ve played other teams with a lot more size in the post and it showed us what we needed to work on. Then we get to the state tournament and all those teams have more size than we did and all of them had good point guards. That’s something we’ve worked on for a couple of weeks to offset their size and the [penetration] of their point guards.” The Lady Bulldogs played a zone defense that collapsed on Jonesboro post player Destiny Thomas whenever she had the ball, severely limiting her chances to score.
Reeves also talked about his team’s offensive capabilities. “Our players are unselfish,” he said. “We are well balanced inside and out. One of them would always come up with an important steal or a rebound or get a basket at the end. One of them always stepped up. But it's the players that did that. They were willing to buy into how we needed to play and be unselfish, not worrying about the scoring. I could tell a couple weeks ago. They were practicing and I thought, ‘This is going to be good.’ They seemed really focused these last couple of weeks. They showed up [and] our players never blinked because we’ve been in close games.”
When asked about the play of Mady Cartwright in the finals, Coach Reeves said, “I just told her to be patient, that things will come and shots will go in. Just keep playing defense and rebounding. We’re ahead and everybody else is scoring. Just keep doing what you’re doing. She drew that [defensive] attention all night, which opens the floor up a little more. All of our other players took over and were hitting. She’s usually able to get going, but Jonesboro did a great job guarding her. [But] it’s a credit to our players that they stepped up and made the plays they needed to make.”
Abby Summitt was also asked about her relationship with Cartwright, saying, “It’s really been a blessing for me to play with Mady for as long as I [have]. Today, being my last game, I just wanted to win it for both of us. We consider each other sisters, so to win it with [Mady] is the biggest deal for me. After the game she gave me the biggest hug and thanked me. I was just happy that I could do it for her.”
Summitt and Trusty also talked about the feel of the finals and the role of the team’s seniors. “The atmosphere [of the finals] is something I will remember forever,” said Summitt. “It was the funnest game I’ve ever played in,” added Trusty. “And I’m only a sophomore, so two more [finals] maybe?”
When asked about her game performance, Trusty said, “Obviously, I feel really good about it. I’m happy my teammates trust me with the ball. They’ve been good leaders for our team,” continued Trusty, speaking of the team’s seniors, especially Summitt and fellow starter Megan Gray. “They are unselfish with the ball. It means a lot that they trust me.”
Likewise, Abby Summitt, who was crowned homecoming queen during basketball season, said of her performance and her teammates, "It takes a lot of stress off you to know that you don't have to make all your shots, and one person on your team doesn't have to make all their shots for [us] to win. If you can pass the ball to one of your teammates and be completely confident they're going to do something good with it, then you're going to have a great team."
Coach Reeves also responded to questions about his team’s success this season and his long-term success as a head coach. “I tell them all the time that great players make plays,” he said. “We played a tough non-conference schedule, and those games were all close. We had conference games that were close, and we get better by playing those. I make better decisions and our players get better making decisions. Those close games really helped us.
“It starts with all our players at a young age, working hard, playing a lot of travel basketball,” he continued. “It’s their travel coaches and the parents supporting them. Our school and community support all our programs. Greenwood is a great place to live and work and go to school. Everybody just expects the best and everyone steps up and does their part.
“Everyone from the community and the school was offering help to us. Whatever our team needs to be successful, it’s always there. That makes it easy for me as a coach and helps our players. It’s just players working hard, being committed, and believing in what we’re doing. It’s parents supporting their daughters and having schools support the program and the community support your program. That where it’s all at,” acknowledged Reeves.
The coach also responded to a question comparing the 2022 finals to 2020 when the Lady Bulldogs didn’t get to complete their title run due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Was 2022 better? “It was,” he said. “We still got crowned state champions [in 2020], but there’s nothing like this experience. They’ll remember this game, as champions running out on the floor, winning at the end. There’s nothing like that. It’s a great feeling.”
The Lady Bulldogs lose two starters to graduation, seniors Summitt and Gray, who have two state championships under their belts (2020, 2022). Next season they essentially have four returning starters – Mady Cartwright, Anna Trusty, Carley Sexton, and Adriana Rusin. That’s a formidable foursome with a good chance to repeat as state champs. Coach Reeves responded when asked about his plans for the coming season as defending champions.
“We’ll go to work in a couple weeks,” he said. “After spring break we’ll come back. We have a lot of kids that play other sports, but we’ll work on basketball throughout the spring. A lot of them will play travel ball. Then we’ll work hard this summer and start back next fall. We’ll start working on our identity and chemistry. We want our players to continue to improve. I tell them all the time, just because the bus gets there, we don't win. We've got to get off that bus and show up. And [today] they showed up."