Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Greenwood girls top 2nd champ
GREENWOOD — Make it back-to-back victories for the Greenwood Lady Bulldogs over defending Class 6A state champions.
Greenwood, the defending Class 5A champions, turned up the pressure to pull away for a 68-41 victory Tuesday against Fayetteville, the defending Class 6A champions, at H.B. Stewart Bulldog Arena.
Greenwood beat the other defending 6A champions Bentonville last week.
“We played two state champions in a row, and two of the best programs in the state every year,” Greenwood Coach Clay Reeves said. “Being able to play great teams and great talent makes us compete hard and play hard. We are all getting better for later in the season. This was a nice win.”
Ally Sockey led the balanced Greenwood offense with a game-high 16 points. Kinley Fisher added 13, while Abby Summitt and Megan Gray each scored nine points. Anna Trusty chipped in eight points.
Fayetteville (3-3) was guided by Carly Johnson’s teamhigh 12 points.
Greenwood ( 5-1) took a 16-7 lead after the initial quarter despite falling behind 5-2.
Fayetteville finished 3-of
14 shooting in the first quarter and turned the ball over 5 times. Greenwood made 7 of 15 shots in the first quarter.
Fayetteville made its initial three shots of the second quarter to fuel a 9-0 run and tie the game at 16-16.
Greenwood’s defense took control after that. Fayetteville didn’t score again in the half, and Greenwood led 29-16 at the break.
Turnovers again were a factor, as Fayetteville had seven in the second quarter. Fayetteville finished with 24 turnovers in the game, while Greenwood limited its turnovers to seven.
“We did not function on
offense very well early,” Fayetteville Coach Vic Rimmer said. “I thought we played well early with our defense. We made them make tough shots. But we were poor on offense.
“They bothered us with the trapping. I didn’t think it would bother us as much as it did. We struggled with that.”
Fisher guided the offense early with a team-high six points in the first quarter. Sockey took over in the second quarter, scoring nine of the team’s 13 points in the period.
“That’s what we do most nights is have different people pick it up at different times,”
Reeves said. “Kinley took over in the first, Ally did in the second, and Gray came in and hit some big shots in the third quarter.
“We want to give our kids the green light when they are shooting well in a quarter. We want to get the ball back to them. Our kids did a good job sharing the ball.”
Greenwood scored the first seven points after halftime on its ways to a 48-30 edge entering the fourth quarter. A 9-0 run made it 57-33.
Fayetteville shot 7 of 21 from the field in the first half but found its offense in the third quarter, making 6 of 10 from the field.
“We did a great job finally finding our way on offense, but we just couldn’t get the stops after that,” Rimmer said. “Once a team like that has a lead on you, it is very difficult to get it back. This will be good experience for us. It’s all about testing yourself. You don’t like losing. But to a program like Greenwood, it is OK because we learned.”
Greenwood’s experience takes over in big games, Reeves said.
“Fayetteville is always a good team,” Reeves said. “We got some talent as well. For us, the big thing is we have four seniors who have been playing since the ninth grade. That makes it very easy on me as a coach. They’ve been through it all. They know what to do.”