While the first half of their league schedule has been interrupted twice by Covid-19, the Lady Bulldogs remain unbeaten through five conference games, including this past Tuesday’s home victory over longtime rival Alma. The GHS girls have two games to make up, time permitting, after both Russellville and Vilonia cancelled games due to the pandemic.
As usual, GHS Head Coach Clay Reeves and his girls are taking things in stride and are leading the conference race, pending the two missing games. The Lady Bulldogs are 13-4 overall and 5-0 in conference play with nine league games remaining. League rival Vilonia is also unbeaten and the two teams will meet next Tuesday at Vilonia with the winner taking the early lead in the conference race.
Van Buren
The Lady Bulldogs opened their 5A West schedule on Tuesday, January 11th at home against the Van Buren Lady Pointers. Junior Mady Cartwright and sophomore Anna Trusty led the way offensively, but it was the defense that was so impressive for Greenwood, holding the visitors to just 23 points over 32 minutes.
Offensively, the first quarter was anemic for both teams, with the GHS girls outscoring Van Buren 8-5. But the home offense came to life in both the second and third quarters, scoring 18 and 20 points, respectively. The Lady Bulldogs led 26-17 at the half and 46-18 after three quarters. With the outcome already decided, both teams rested their starters in the final period as Greenwood coasted to the 49-23 victory in their league opener.
Trusty led the way for the home team with 18 points, followed by Cartwright with 14. Senior Megan Gray added nine points, all on three-pointers, and junior Ella Williams scored five points.
Three days later Greenwood’s trip to Vilonia was scratched, just two weeks after the Lady Eagles defeated Greenwood in the Beebe tournament. The game was cancelled due to a Covid outbreak at Vilonia and has been rescheduled for Tuesday, February 1st. The cancellation leaves the Lady Bulldogs two games behind in their 14-game conference schedule.
Siloam Springs
On Tuesday, January 18th, the GHS girls hosted the Lady Panthers and fell behind early, 14-11, after one period. Siloam Springs also won the final stanza, 12-5, but Greenwood dominated the second quarter (23-11) and won the third (18-15) to pull out a narrow 57-52 victory. The Lady Bulldogs led 37-22 at the half and 52-40 after three periods.
Anna Trusty led the home team with 20 points, one of three Lady Bulldogs who scored in double figures. Megan Gray added 16 points, including five three-pointers, four of them in the first half. Abby Summitt also hit a pair of treys and scored 10 points, while junior Adriana Rusin added six points.
Mountain Home
Last Friday the Lady Bulldogs made the long trip to Mountain Home in Baxter County to take on the Lady Bombers and came away with an impressive 69-45 win. Greenwood owned the first two periods, outscoring the home team 21-8 and 25-14 for commanding 46-22 halftime lead. The visitors continued to perform well offensively in the third quarter, doubling the Lady Bombers, 18-9, for a 64-31 lead after 24 minutes. Coach Reeves rested his starters in the fourth quarter, allowing Mountain Home to win the period, 14-5.
Mady Cartwright and Anna Trusty combined for 38 points in the victory. Cartwright led the way with 22 points while Trusty had 16. Abby Summitt chipped in with 11 points. Sophomore Carley Sexton added seven points, as did Ella Williams. Adriana Rusin contributed six points in the win.
Alma
Last Tuesday’s home game against the Airedalettes wasn’t much of a contest with the GHS girls overwhelming Alma from the opening tip, winning the first eight minutes by a margin of 24-2. Greenwood’s defense converted some early Alma turnovers into a quick 9-0 advantage before closing the final three minutes of the opening period with 15 additional points.
The second quarter featured more of the same, with Greenwood continuing to score at will, though the Alma girls did finally reach double digits by halftime, trailing 49-14.
Coach Reeves allowed his starters to remain in the game for the first couple minutes of the third quarter, pulling them around the five minute mark. But it made little difference as the GHS reserves continued to pour in the points, shooting almost 100% for the quarter while playing solid defense. Greenwood led 75-17 heading into the final period and won the game going away, 81-32.
Mostly on their first half performances, Anna Trusty and Mady Cartwright led Greenwood in scoring with 19 and 18 points, respectively. Abby Summitt added 11 points and fellow senior Megan Gray added nine points on three first half treys. Junior Ashlyn Butler also scored nine points, all on three-pointers in the second half.
After the game, Coach Reeves talked about the win. “We scored nine points really quick with some turnovers and converted them, then we went for three or four minutes at nine points. But I thought we played hard and got up and down the floor and shot well as a team. We took our open shots and made them.”
The coach was also pleased with the play of his reserves in the second half, especially in the third quarter. “We were getting open shots and we were taking them, and they were going in. All our kids practice hard and work hard against each other.”
Asked about making up the Russellville game, Reeves said the contest is slated for Monday, February 14th, Valentine’s Day, which means both teams will play three games that week. Greenwood will travel to Russellville that Monday, to Siloam Springs on Tuesday, then host Mountain Home on Friday. The Lady Bulldogs will play at Greenbrier this coming Friday night and hope to remain unbeaten before next Tuesday’s trip to Vilonia.