With three games left in the regular season and on the 5A West conference schedule, the Greenwood Lady Bulldogs and Head Coach Clay Reeves are right where they want to be. The GHS girls are still unbeaten at 11-0 and have already secured the #1 seed from the 5A West for the upcoming state playoffs. All that remains is to prepare for the post-season and possibly finish the conference schedule with an unbeaten record.
But according to Reeves, finishing the league slate undefeated isn’t really a priority with him or his players. “We’ve never really discussed [it],” he said during a recent interview. “We just take it a game at a time. The real [season] starts the next week [in the playoffs] and that’s our goal. Once you get there you’ve got a chance, and I feel like we’ve got as good a chance as [anyone].” The state tournament begins the first week of March at Sheridan High School.
The GHS girls are 21-4 overall this season and 11-0 in conference play. Greenwood has also won five state titles under Coach Reeves, who also earned three championships at Greenland. The Lady Bulldogs return to action on Friday night at home against the Lady Bombers of Mountain Home, who reside at the bottom of the league standings along with Alma. They will play at Alma next Tuesday before closing out their regular season at home against Greenbrier next Friday.
Van Buren
On February 8th the Lady Bulldogs journeyed across the Arkansas River to face the Lady Pointers of Van Buren in what turned out to be a lopsided game from the opening tip. The visitors completely dominated the home team, outscoring Van Buren 20-3 in the first quarter and 13-9 in the second for a 33-12 halftime lead. Greenwood led 17-0 before the Lady Pointers hit a three-pointer with 45 seconds left in the first period.
Things didn’t improve for the Lady Pointers in the second half either. Greenwood won the third quarter by a 14-5 margin before Coach Reeves replaced his starters with reserves off the bench. With a 30-point Greenwood lead (47-17) and the clock running, the two teams combined for only seven points in the final stanza for the 52-19 GHS victory.
Statistically, the Lady Bulldogs spread the scoring honors among three players in double figures. Sophomore Anna Trusty led the way with 16 points, followed by junior Mady Cartwright with 13, and senior Abby Summitt with 10. Sophomore Carley Sexton added seven points.
Asked about his team’s effort against Van Buren, Coach Reeves said, “I think our defense played really well, and I don’t think Van Buren had one of their better games. It was a mixture of us playing pretty hard and intense and them not playing well themselves.”
Vilonia
The Lady Eagles came calling last Friday at H.B. Stewart Arena. It was the third meeting between Vilonia and Greenwood this season, having split the previous two contests. Vilonia’s earlier win was in tournament play in December, but the Lady Bulldogs won their first meeting in league play at Vilonia in mid-January. To have any chance of overtaking Greenwood in the league standings, Vilonia needed a victory last week, but it wasn’t to be.
The Lady Bulldogs held off the persistent Lady Eagles for the 50-46 victory, essentially assuring themselves of the league’s #1 seed in the playoffs. But the game was close throughout, with Greenwood leading narrowly, 13-11, after eight minutes and 27-24 at the half. However, the home team began to pull away in the third quarter, only to have the visitors rally in the fourth period to make things interesting again.
Leading 40-29 with 3:00 left in the third quarter, Greenwood’s Anna Trusty scored her team’s final three points on a free throw and an inside bucket. But the Lady Eagles netted the last three points of the period to trail 43-32 after 24 minutes, setting up a rally that begin early in the fourth period with an 8-0 scoring run.
It didn’t help the Lady Bulldogs that they didn’t score until the 3:40 mark when Mady Cartwright drove inside for a bucket to keep Vilonia at bay, 45-40. The Lady Eagles later cut the deficit to 45-42 and 49-46, but could get no closer. In the final seconds Vilonia missed a critical free throw attempt and Greenwood’s Abby Summitt didn’t, making the final score 50-46.
Anna Trusty topped the scoring chart for Greenwood with 19 points, followed by Summitt with 14 points, including a trio of three-pointers. Mady Cartwright added seven points and junior Ella Williams came off the bench to hit a pair of treys in the first half after Cartwright exited with early foul trouble.
“We’ve had three hard-fought battles [this season],” said Coach Reeves of the Vilonia game. “Both teams know each other well and compete hard. Both are good teams. If we’re behind, our kids are usually going to fight back and make it a game, and it’s the same with [Vilonia]. Fortunately, in all the close games we’ve had, our kids have fought, played defense, rebounded, and hit baskets and free throws when they needed it, and found a way to win all those close games.”
Russellville
Greenwood’s first conference game was scheduled for January 7th at Russellville, but it never happened due to a Covid outbreak among the Lady Cyclones. It took five weeks for the game to be rescheduled for Valentine's Day. By then the two teams had already played their other scheduled game at Greenwood on February 4th, a 25-point victory for the Lady Bulldogs, though the game was much closer for the first three quarters.
“Russellville played well here, and I didn’t think we played that well,” said Coach Reeves of the team’s first meeting. “We were eight points up with six minutes to go in the fourth quarter and ended up winning big. So we were ready to play when we got [to Russellville], because we knew we had to. We shot really well and caused them to turn the ball over a lot, and things went well for us.”
Indeed, the Lady Bulldogs scored an impressive 45 points before halftime and led 45-24. The visitors led 25-8 after one period with Mady Cartwright and Anna Trusty both scoring seemingly at will while Greenwood’s pressing defense generated numerous turnovers that became baskets on the other end of the court.
The Lady Bulldogs won the third quarter 15-12 and even the GHS reserves continued the scoring with 19 points in the fourth period on their way to a 79-42 victory and a season sweep of the Lady Cyclones. Cartwright led Greenwood with 23 points, followed by Trusty with 19, and Abby Summitt with 15. Carley Sexton chipped in with eight points as well.
Siloam Springs
The Lady Panthers are still fighting for a playoff berth and are currently one game behind Vilonia in the league standings, one win ahead of Russellville. So it’s not surprising they put up quite a battle against the visiting Lady Bulldogs this past Tuesday night. Though Greenwood took a six-point lead late in the first half, the game was tied at 37-all after three quarters. The visitors trailed 11-10 after one period and led 28-22 at the intermission.
But the Lady Panthers rallied to win the third quarter, 15-9, tying the score with eight minutes remaining. Both teams then heated up offensively in the fourth period with Greenwood outscoring the home team 26-20 for the 63-57 victory.
Mady Cartwright scored the first four points of the final stanza on a steal and layup and a putback, and later followed with a three-pointer and a pair of free throws for a 46-39 GHS advantage. Abby Summitt then added a short jumper for a 48-39 advantage before the Lady Panthers hit a three-pointer and called a timeout to regroup at the 3:33 mark. But the home team could get no closer than five points before time expired.
“It was close here and it was close there,” said Coach Reeves of the team’s two games this season. “They’ve got all their players back from last year and they have a little more height than some other teams in the conference. It was a good game. Our kids fought hard, and Siloam Springs played well. They’re still fighting for the two, three, or four spots, so we got their best [effort]. But our kids just kept finding a way to make plays and get it done.”
Both Mady Cartwright and Anna Trusty breeched the 20-point threshold for the Lady Bulldogs. Trusty had 21 points to Cartwright’s 20, supported by Abby Summitt’s 17 points, including a trio of long-range bombs. If the GHS girls are going to win their sixth state championship, those three players, along with senior Megan Gray, are going to have to carry the load offensively through the playoffs. As Coach Reeves said, the real season begins the first week of March at Sheridan.