Russellville rolls

Jaidyn Koerdt scored 20 points to lead Russellville to a 54-36 victory over Hot Springs Lakeside at the Class 5A girls tournament.

RUSSELLVILLE 54, HOT SPRINGS LAKESIDE 36

HOT SPRINGS — Russellville’s Jaidyn Koerdt couldn’t contain her smile.

Not that the journey is close to over for the Lady Cyclones — they know if they’re going to bring home a state title, they’ll have to go through a pair of 5A-West foes that beat them twice this year in Greenwood and Vilonia.

But for nearly this entire group that was playing in its first state tournament game, it was more meaningful than most first-round wins.

Russellville rolled past Hot Springs Lakeside 54-36 in its Class 5A girls state tournament opener at Trojan Arena on Wednesday morning. Koerdt shouldered the brunt of the offensive load, scoring a game-high 20 points on 7-of12 shooting to go along with 4 assists as Russellville led wire-to-wire.

It was the Lady Cyclones’ defense that was most impressive, forcing the Lady Rams into 17 turnovers over the first three quarters and limiting Lakeside to 7 of 22 from the field over that span.

“Against this team, [I thought we could control the tempo],” Coach Ryan Koerdt said. “It all depends on the matchup. We couldn’t do that against Greenwood and Vilonia. And they know that and we know that. … That’s why we’re striving to get where they’re at.”

The Lady Rams couldn’t find any offensive rhythm. Russellville showed a fullcourt press the entire game and made getting the ball across half-court challenging for Lakeside (18-8).

The Lady Cyclones forced nine turnovers in the opening quarter and took advantage of easy transition opportunities to sprint to a double-digit lead.

“We were just hoping that if we could keep our pressure up like we’ve done all year, it would work out for us,” Jaidyn Koerdt said. “The whole game, we just dominated defensively, so that was one thing we were really looking forward to doing.”

Once Russellville (19-10) had a lead, it was more than content to slow down the contest. The Lady Cyclones entered Wednesday scoring more than 57 points in just two of their previous 18 victories.

That forced Lakeside to chase the game, and while Ronni Fornby closed with eight fourth-quarter points to lead the Lady Rams with 11, they never got closer than 15 in the late stages.

Part of that was a credit to Russellville’s Gracie Campbell, who knocked down two of her 3 three-pointers in the final quarter to give her 11 points.

The Lady Cyclones’ strong finish was thanks to Jaidyn Koerdt, who scored seven of her 20 in the fourth and ensured her first state playoff game alongside her dad ended in a victory.

“I had to be hard on her at first and she didn’t understand it,” Ryan Koerdt said of his daughter. “I’ve raised her alone my whole life, so I’ve always been good cop [and] bad cop at home, but I’m still dad in her eyes. There have been days when I’ve had to step back and just let my coaching staff get on her.

“But here the last five or six games, she’s understood that she has to put the team on her back and today …she was playing chess and the other nine girls out there were playing checkers.”

GREENWOOD 65, HOT SPRINGS 44

The Lady Bulldogs began their postseason run with a comfortable win, cruising past the Lady Trojans with a late third-quarter surge.

Although Greenwood (22-4) shot just 4 of 16 from the field in the second quarter, Coach Clay Reeves’ squad took advantage of a 13-0 start to the contest and never looked back.

Senior Kinley Fisher led the 5A-West runners-up with 20 points, and sophomore Madison Cartwright scored 17 points.

Jaylia Reed dropped 19 points and Praylin Jones scored 11 for Hot Springs (12-11).