The Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs concluded their 2009-2010 regular season last Friday night with a pair of conference victories over visiting Central Arkansas Christian (CAC). The GHS girls will now move on to the Class 5A state tournament to be held in Alma this coming week. The Greenwood boys closed out a disappointing season on a high note by avenging an earlier loss at CAC. Friday evening was also senior night for all winter sports athletes and members of spirit groups, who were introduced and honored between games, along with their parents.
Lady Bulldogs 55, Lady Mustangs 40
The GHS girls dominated the first half of Friday's contest, running out to a 15-7 lead after eight minutes, and were up 30-15 at the intermission. For the game, Greenwood head coach Clay Reeves got balanced scoring from five players with at least six points each. "Our kids played a real solid game," Reeves said in his office after the victory, which moved the Lady Bulldogs into third place in the final 5A West Conference standings, not an insignificant move in light of the upcoming state tournament.
The Lady Mustangs played better in the second half, hitting a series of three-point baskets starting late in the third quarter and continuing through the first half of the fourth period, but they could not get closer than 13 points. Greenwood boosted its lead to 20 points at the 3:25 mark of the third quarter on a driving layup by sophomore guard Haley Donald. The Lady 'Dogs would score only once more before the period ended, and again it was Donald with the basket. When the buzzer sounded, Greenwood led 39-21.
A left-handed layup by senior guard Rebel Clay brought the GHS lead back to 20 points at the 6:00 mark of the final quarter. After Greenwood sophomore forward Endsley Evans scored inside, Clay added a pair of free throws to increase the GHS lead to 21 points, 45-24, at the 4:15 mark. The Lady Mustangs hit a couple more three-pointers and took advantage of a pair of Greenwood turnovers to trim their deficit to 13 points at 53-40 inside the final minute, but got no closer. Senior forward Sarah Lenzen canned a pair of free throws to account for the final score, 55-40.
Haley Donald led the team in scoring with 15 points. Rebel Clay was the only other Lady Bulldog in double figures with 11 points. But Endsley Evans added eight points, Allie Wilson had seven points, and Sarah Lenzen finished with six points. After Friday's regular season finale, Coach Reeves spoke to members of the local media in his office, commenting on the victory and the upcoming state tournament.
Though pleased with the win and a post-season berth, the coach made it clear that his team can't afford to rest on its accomplishments. Regarding Friday's win, the coach acknowledged the strong play of his seniors. "Our seniors have done a good job with our team all year and continually improved. They're solid and I expect a lot from our seniors leading our team on and off the floor. We're playing a little bit different style this year than we have in the past, to fit our personnel, and our kids have adapted to that really well." He also praised his team's rebounding against CAC. "That's come to be one of our strengths throughout the year. Our kids are starting to rebound on both ends. I thought they hurt us on the offensive boards in the first half, and that's what we talked about at halftime - don't give them second chances."
Looking ahead to the state tournament, Reeves said, "There's still room for improvement. We're going to try and make sure we improve this week and get ready for Thursday." By defeating CAC, the Lady 'Dogs enhanced their tournament draw by finishing third in the conference behind Vilonia and Siloam Springs. In fact, Greenwood and CAC ended the season with identical records at 18-10 overall and 9-5 in league play. The teams split in their head-to-head matchups, so the point system was used as the tiebreaker and Greenwood came out on top to earn third place. "It's supposed to mean a lot, moving up," said Reeves, "and hopefully it will on Thursday. We were wanting to play a lot more on Thursday than on Tuesday. So that gives us a couple more days of practice. At this point we're in the state [tournament] with 16 other teams, including us, and one of those 16 teams is going to win it, and we've got as good a chance as anyone else. No matter who you play, you've got to beat them all to be state champion." Asked if having the tournament at Alma is a plus for Greenwood, Reeves readily agreed. "That makes it great for our fans and our kids," he said. "We've played there a lot over the last couple of years, so I'm glad it's at Alma." Thursday's game will pit the Lady 'Dogs against the second seed from the 5A Southeast, Monticello, with the winner moving on to the quarterfinals on Friday at 4 p.m. The semi-finals are set for Saturday in Alma with the state title game to be played in Summit Arena at the Hot Springs Convention Center the following weekend.
Bulldogs rally for 55-47 victory
Knowing that Friday's contest would be their last game of the season, the Bulldogs decided to go out with a strong performance against a talented CAC squad. The GHS boys rallied from a seven-point first half deficit to force a tie at the break before making their move in the third quarter and hitting their free throws late to preserve the 55-47 victory.
The Mustangs won the opening tip and turned it into a quick bucket and a 2-0 lead. GHS senior guard Brandon Brewer hit a three-pointer for a 3-2 advantage, before senior forward Kyle Helms scored two consecutive buckets inside for Greenwood to tie the game at 7-7 with 2:20 to play in the period. But CAC scored the final four points of the quarter for an 11-7 lead.
Coming out of the timeout to begin the second period, the Mustangs hit a three-pointer to extend their advantage to seven points at 14-7. But Greenwood sophomore guard Ryan Lensing countered quickly with a trey of his own, to keep the Bulldogs within striking distance. GHS head coach Brian Martin made a strategic move by inserting sophomore guard Braden Suter late in the first period, and the move began paying off in the second quarter as Suter hit the first of his four three-pointers, making the score 16-13. He then hit another one 30 seconds later to tie the game at 16-all. Junior forward Billyjack Freeman scored to knot the game at 18, then Suter hit his third consecutive three to put Greenwood up 21-18 with 2:42 left before the intermission. CAC then netted five straight points before junior guard Shawn Hankins scored on a layup late in the period to tie the score at the half, 23-23.
The two teams traded threes to start the second half, with Ryan Lensing doing the honors for the Bulldogs. At the 4:55 mark of the third quarter, Braden Suter hit his fourth trey of the game to put Greenwood up 30-27. But CAC rallied with five unanswered points to retake the lead at 32-30. Suter then scored his last points of the game on a short jumper to tie the score at 32-all with 4:00 left in the period.
With 2:25 left, Kyle Helms scored inside to tie the game once again, before a trey by Brandon Brewer put Greenwood up for good at 37-36 with 1:44 remaining in the quarter. Senior forward Spencer Harris then scored both of his field goals on back-to-back possessions to put the Bulldogs up 41-36 late in the period. CAC had an opportunity to trim the deficit at the free throw line, but missed a pair of charity shots with just one second showing on the scoreboard clock.
Ryan Lensing drove hard from the three-point line to score inside at the beginning of the fourth quarter, prompting a timeout by the visitors with Greenwood leading 44-36. The Mustangs then closed the gap once again with six straight points during a sequence that saw Greenwood's Kyle Helms foul out of the game. Leading 44-43, Greenwood's Brandon Brewer hit a pair of free throws at the 2:35 mark to put the Bulldogs up by three points, 46-43. A Ryan Lensing field goal made it 48-45 as Coach Martin signaled for a strategy timeout with 57 seconds left to play. The Bulldogs would score their last seven points at the charity stripe, with Brewer doing most of the damage with four consecutive free throws to ice a very satisfying 55-47 conference victory.
Greenwood had three players in double digits offensively, led by Braden Suter's 14 points off the bench. Brewer and Lensing both added 13 points, while Kyle Helms chipped in with seven points and Spencer Harris contributed four points. In a nice gesture, Coach Martin called for a timeout to take Brewer and Harris out of the game with just seconds left, allowing the crowd to applaud their efforts and show appreciation for their athletic careers at GHS, along with fellow senior Kyle Helms, who was already on the bench. All three players are multi-sport athletes.
In his post-game comments, Coach Martin, completing his first season at Greenwood, was happy with how his team finished the conference campaign and how his seniors played. The coach was also quite optimistic about the future of his program. "I was very proud of those seniors," said Martin, "and I thought we overachieved in conference this year, which is exactly what every team wants to do."
The Bulldogs finished the league schedule with a 6-8 record, 9-19 overall, after winning a total of five conference games in the last three years combined. "I'm very proud of those kids for their accomplishments this year," he added. "Our goal was to make the state tournament, and we came up a little short, but we were right there in the hunt until the final week. We've got a good group coming back and some freshman who are going to come up and help us, so I think there are good things to come for Bulldog basketball."
Regarding Friday's win, the coach said, "It was good to get a win on senior night. We hit a couple of big shots to get the lead going into the fourth quarter and made some free throws to give us that cushion. CAC is a team of runs and they can score in bunches, and we answered that run in the second quarter to get a tie at 23-23, which is right where we wanted the score to be, in the low twenties. [Braden] Suter came off [the bench] and lit a fire under us and hit three big shots from the corner, and that kind of lifted our spirits a little bit, because we were struggling to score. Suter's done that all year and it's good to have a weapon like that coming off the bench."
Representing the 5A West Conference in the state tournament will be the first place Alma Airedales, playing on their home floor, followed by Morrilton, Greenbrier, and Harrison. The Bulldogs finished just one game behind the 7-7 Goblins. Had Greenwood beaten Greenbrier back on February 12th, it would have forced a three-way tie for fourth place, but Greenbrier won the game with a last second shot.