The Greenwood High School Lady Bulldogs won their second Class 5A state basketball title in three years this past Thursday night. The championship game was played at Summit Arena in Hot Springs, and despite the rainy conditions outside, a nice crowd of GHS students, parents, and other fans made the trip to Garland County to support head coach Clay Reeves and his players. The opponents were the Lady Rams of Paragould, a team that mirrored Greenwood in several ways. Both teams entered the game with 26-4 records; both were 17-0 since Christmas; both went undefeated while winning their respective conference races; both have multiple players capable of scoring in double figures; and both were knocked out of the state tournament last season by the same team, the Airedalettes of Alma.
"I know they're good,” said Paragould head coach Jay Cook of the Lady Bulldogs prior to Thursday’s contest. “They're deep [and] athletic. They have a number of kids who can score in a variety of ways," said Cook. "They come at you relentlessly on the defensive end from baseline to baseline. [But] all we have to do is play great once," he said. "We don't have to beat them in a seven-game series [or] a five-game series. We just have to beat them one time.” Cook’s remarks were both frank and revealing, coming very close to acknowledging that the GHS girls were the superior team even before the game was played. Thursday’s final score proved him right.
After dominating most of their competition throughout the reason season, the Lady Bulldogs came out ready to play Thursday night. After falling behind 2-0, Greenwood’s pressure defense forced four Paragould turnovers, and the offense went on an 11-0 run to take command of the contest. They didn’t take their foot off the gas pedal until the fourth quarter.
Senior Haley Donald scored off an assist from sophomore Lundon Williams to tie the game, then turned a steal into an easy layup. Williams added two charity shots, then nailed a three-pointer for a 9-2 lead. Lastly, Junior Presleigh Atkins scored on a driving layup to account for the 11-0 run. Paragould cut the lead to 11-5 after a conventional three-point play, but GHS senior Endsley Evans countered with a similar effort on the other end of the court. Evans then added a baseline jumper and fellow senior Allie Wilson sank a free throw, as the Lady Bulldogs scored the final six points of the first quarter for a 17-5 lead at the buzzer. The Lady Rams would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way.
"They got after us, and we didn't handle it very well," said Coach Cook after the game. "We knew they were going to pressure us, but it's hard to prepare for the type pressure they bring. The first four or five minutes of the game, they hit us in the nose and we staggered a little bit. We struggled getting our feet back under us."
Leading 21-11, the Lady Bulldogs put together another scoring run of 10 unanswered points to push their advantage to 31-11 two minutes before halftime. Impressive freshman Megan Hartness started the offensive spurt with a field goal and later added a three-pointer to put Greenwood up 28-11. Donald added two free throws and junior Sammy Richards scored a basket inside and added a foul shot.
Leading 33-15 at the half, the Lady Bulldogs pushed their margin to 24 points early in the third period at 43-19, and led 46-24 after three quarters on the strength of a buzzer beating three-pointer by Hartness. After Sammy Richards stole the ball at midcourt, she drove to the basket and was fouled in the process of making a layup. Her free throw pushed the GHS lead to 49-24 at the 7:20 mark, and insured that the Lady Rams could not mount a serious comeback rally. Paragould did go on an 8-0 run and closed out the game with a 5-0 run. Greenwood’s final points were by Hartness, coming on an inside basket and free throw. Coach Reeves called off any serious offensive efforts for the last five minutes, consciously trying not to run up the score. Point guard Lundon Williams handled the basketball for the most part, displaying her dribbling skills as the time melted off the game clock. As the final seconds ticked down, GHS students began to cheer and count down to the 52-37 victory and another state championship.
Megan Hartness led Greenwood in scoring with 16 points, that included a trio of three-pointers in four tries. Lundon Williams, also named as the state tournament's Most Valuable Player, chipped in with 10 points, three rebounds, two steals, and two assists. Haley Donald had eight points and three rebounds, while Endsley Evans scored nine points and pulled down four rebounds. Despite a size disadvantage, Greenwood whipped the taller Lady Rams on the boards for a 25-16 advantage. "That tells the tale," said Coach Cook. "We didn't rebound well, but [Greenwood] rebounded great. They're good. They're an excellent basketball team. They took us out of what we wanted to do."
"Our kids played tremendously hard and were able to get a big lead because of their defense and effort," said Coach Reeves in the interview room after the game. "They shot real well. I saw exactly what I've seen throughout the conference and through the state tournament," he added. "They came out ready to play from start to finish. Throughout our whole conference schedule I probably only saw three quarters [where] we let up. That's hard to do. I give them the credit. They're the players, and they make the plays.
"Since Christmas we had a different strategy on defense to fit our personnel a lot better, but it's not what the coaches do it's what the players do," said Reeves. "They're great players, and they bought into what we were doing. They're the ones that put out the effort. They did that for 14 conference games, three state tournament games, and then they did it once more [tonight]. That's tremendous effort. They were focused and ready to play every game."
Greenwood seniors Haley Donald, Allie Wilson, Endsley Evans, Brooke Rice and Allison Gray finished with two state titles and a semifinal berth for a 10-1 postseason record. By far, the best in school history. "They were a big part of our success," said Reeves. "They helped get our tradition going. The combination of all of the kids we’ve had has helped make the program what it is." Before 2010, the closest the GHS girls had come to a state championship was in 1998, when they lost to Hot Springs in the final game.
Three of those seniors mentioned above were starters at times, and played pivotal roles in both championship seasons. Donald was known as a defensive specialist, and was often assigned to cover the opposition’s best scorer. A strong presence in the paint, Evans was one of the best players on the 2010 championship team, despite being only a sophomore. Hampered recently by a stress fracture during the heart of the conference race, Evans returned in a limited role for the final few games of her senior season. She still wears a boot on her injured foot when not on the court.
Wilson was also injured recently and played the last few games wearing a protective mask. A good ball handler and competent scorer during her career, Wilson is also the younger sister of former GHS and current University of Arkansas starting quarterback Tyler Wilson, who will also be a senior next fall in his last season of college eligibility.
As Greenwood moves up to Class 6A next fall, the Lady Bulldogs will need the next crop of seniors to provide the kind of leadership-by-example demonstrated by this year’s departing 12th graders. But the foundation has been laid with a second state title in three years, and Coach Reeves and his players don’t figure to back off from the challenge of playing against larger schools. Don’t bet against them.