The Greenwood Lady Bulldogs (22-9) basketball team is going back to the state championship game, to be played this coming Saturday at 11 a.m. at Bank of the Ozarks Arena in Hot Springs. Their opponents will be the Lady Hurricane of Jonesboro High School.
Since the arrival of Head Coach Clay Reeves, the GHS girls have been a fixture in the state tournament, in both Class 5A and 6A, and since 2010 are making their fifth appearance in the title game, winning four championships in 2010, 2012, and 2014-15.
Reeves has won more state titles than any other active head coach in the state, and he doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. After winning three championships at Class 3A Greenland, he has taken the GHS girls basketball program to new heights, winning four rings.
Yet, it’s doubtful that Reeves or any other Arkansas coach in recent memory has taken such an unusual route to the title game. The Lady Bulldogs have won 22 games this season while relying largely on the energy and talents of five freshmen – that’s right – five ninth graders.
To put their achievements in sharper focus, after losing their first four games to start the season, the Lady Bulldogs have won 22 of their last 27 contests, and three of those five losses were by a combined five points.
Five freshmen, three sophomores, two juniors, and a lone senior have gotten most of the playing time, with the ninth graders becoming ever more prominent as the season unfolded. In almost every game there were times when up to four freshmen would be on the floor at the same time, usually against teams featuring lots of juniors and seniors. But they never showed fear or missed a beat.
Kaila Cartwright is the team’s only senior and has started every game. Junior Kyiah Julian, the team’s leading scorer and floor leader, also started every game until she was lost to injury last month. Susannah Stein, another junior, comes off the bench to provide valuable minutes in a reserve role, mostly as a defensive player and rebounder.
Besides the freshmen, a trio of sophomores has also greatly impacted the team – returnees Harley Terry, Jaelin Glass, and newcomer Angela Price, a move-in from Oklahoma. The freshmen include Ally Sockey, Kinley Fisher, Haven Clements, Shea Goodwin, and Stormi Baggs.
“Kaila and Kyiah have the most experience,” said Coach Reeves in a recent post-game interview. “This is their third state tournament and they know what we need to do, and the process we go through to get [here]. Kaila and Kyiah have heard everything I could possibly say, encouraging them or pushing them a little harder.
“They encourage [the other players],” added Reeves. “Near the end of the game, Kyiah was talking to one of them about something we had probably talked about a thousand times. [But] it was probably the first time that player had heard it. Kyiah just repeated what I had said, so she’s been listening and is encouraging the other kids to do what they needed to do.”
Reeves admitted that he’s had to adjust his approach somewhat because of the extreme youth of this year’s team. “It’s a little different talking to players that have already played high school for three years, [as opposed] to some of them [in] their first year, understanding the game and the wars we’ve been through the last couple of years,” he said.
“The young ones are really fearless and are playing [well],” said the coach. “The ones that have played the last couple of years, they understand the game and know what we want to do, and when to hesitate and when to go a little more. They’ve all mixed together well. What they do well has rubbed off on the other ones.”
Playing 10 or 11 girls consistently throughout the season has also helped to develop tremendous team depth, an invaluable asset down the stretch and since the loss of Julian in the regular season finale.
“That’s big,” Reeves said. “It has helped us. Practicing every day has really helped [too], because we have great practices playing against each other. We have great depth, and our kids know that the next lineup has been in there together before.
“All of our kids have grown up a lot during the year, and gotten a lot better and a lot tougher,” said the coach. “They depend on each other.”
Reeves also cited the tough early schedule for helping to mature his young players quickly and preparing them for the rigors of post-season play.
“We played some really good teams early in the year,” he said. “You can look at our record and see that most [games] were [decided] by single digits or less. There’s a reason we play the schedule we do.”
The Lady Bulldogs went 7-7 in non-conference play, 10-2 in league play, and have won five straight games in the post-season, with one contest remaining.
The truth is that Reeves suspected this year’s team had the makings of a title contender, despite its incredible youth and relative inexperience. His confidence was based in large part on the five incoming freshmen who won a junior high regional championship in 2017 with a perfect 25-0 record.
“I felt like we would definitely get there,” he said. “I knew they [had] the capabilities, but you never know how different players will play together.”
So now the stage is set for Saturday’s showdown between Greenwood and Jonesboro, a clash between the smallest school in Class 6A and the largest. As of last spring, Greenwood had an enrollment of 893 students compared to 1,241 for Jonesboro.
But whatever the outcome, win or lose, the Greenwood Lady Bulldogs will acquit themselves well and will be a force in Class 6A girls’ basketball for several years to come as this group of freshmen and sophomores continue to hone their skills and gain experience, while also getting re-enforcements from the junior high ranks after winning yet another regional title last month.