Greenwood rallies to defeat Tuttle, Okla.

GIRLS GREENWOOD 54, TUTTLE, OKLA. 49 SPECIAL TO

THE NWA DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FORT SMITH — Greenwood coach Clay Reeves stood next to his bench Friday night, arms folded, a calm look on his face.

The Tuttle Tigers were in the midst of a 10-0 run and Greenwood went from behind up 7 to down 5.

No worries, here. Mady Cartwright scored a game-high 18 points and the Lady Bulldogs rallied to beat the Tigers, 54-49, in the second round of the Taco Bell Tournament of Champions at Southside High School.

The Bulldogs ( 7-1) face Northside (8-0) today at 7 p.m. in the finals. Northside rallied to beat West Memphis Friday in overtime.

“They’ve got a real good team,” Reeves said of Tuttle. “That’s the kind of stuff that’s going to happen. Two really good teams are playing and fortunately, we made enough plays down the stretch that helped us out, and we hit our open shots.”

Tuttle used its size to hamper the Lady Bulldogs’ inside game. Six-foot-3 Landry Allen caused all sorts of havoc for Greenwood, blocking seven shots and pulling down six rebounds.

Cartwright hit only one 3-point shot, and naturally, for Tuttle, it proved to be the one that put the Lady Bulldogs ahead for good (47-45).

The biggest 3-pointer, however, came off the hands of Abby Summitt who swished a 3-pointer with 2:39 left to put the Bulldogs ahead 52-47.

“We got a few steals, we got a few rebounds … our kids stepped up and made some plays,” Reeves said. “Right now we’re just trying to get good chemistry and all that, and it’s continuing to improve.”

Cartwright was only 6-for28 from the field but kept driving to the basket at the 6-3 Allen.

Cartwright made all five of Greenwood’s foul shots. Tuttle was 8-for-12 from the line and 18-for-36 from the field.

But the Tigers (2-1) also turned the ball over 15 times, as compared to just 5 Greenwood turnovers.

Anna Trusty finished with 16 points for the Lady Bulldogs. Summitt had only six, both 3-point shots. Megan Gray added nine points for the Lady Bulldogs.