It took two and a half periods for the Lady Bulldogs to shake off early shooting woes and take the lead against Russellville. At the final buzzer, the Lady Bulldogs won 66-51.
The Lady Cyclones jumped out to an 11-2 run early in the first while the Lady Bulldogs went 0-13 on their shots. It was an uncharacteristic night for the Greenwood squad as shots from Seniors Kylah Pearcy and Journey Clements, with Sophomore Ava Cranor, did not find the bottom of the net. Pearcy got the Lady Bulldogs on the board with two consecutive baskets for Greenwood. She would add one more before the period ended. Russellville led at the end of the first, 14-6, with Greenwood shooting just 13%.
Defensive adjustments in the second period hampered the Lady Cyclones’ offense, allowing them eleven possessions and only seven points, despite two baskets and three free throws. While the shooting woes carried over, Pearcy and fellow Senior Ashlin Rose were able to pull Greenwood within three points at the half. Russellville led 21-18 going into halftime.
Coming out of the half, it was a deja vu from the first period, with Greenwood not being able to find the basket on their first six shots. Then the game started to unravel for the Lady Cyclones. A Greenwood rebound on an Ava Cranor free throw was turned into a three-point basket by Kylah Pearcy. A technical foul on Greenwood’s next possession resulted in Pearcy going to the free-throw line for four shots, making three, tying the game at 25-25. Another foul returned Pearcy again, making both of those, giving the Lady Bulldogs the 27-25 lead. Greenwood added seven more points on a Journey Clements three-pointer and Pearcy’s two-point basket. The Lady Cyclones stopped the Greenwood run with five points of their own before both teams traded baskets as the third period wound down. Junior Spicer Fowler got into the point column with a three-pointer of her own, while Pearcy added two more points to her total. Greenwood had a seven-point lead, with the score 39-32.
In the final period, Greenwood pushed their lead to twenty points after three three-point baskets by Journey Clements and a scoring run by UAFS signee Kylah Pearcy. Greenwood cruised the last few minutes of the fourth to hold on to the 66-51 victory.
Pearcy had a game high of 43 points.
“ I didn’t think our energy was very good, and you know that shows when you miss.” Head Coach Ryan Casalman said following the game. “I know that there [were] seven or eight that were probably inside ten feet.”
Last Friday night, the Greenwood Lady Bulldogs went toe to toe with arguably the top team in the 5A, the Farmington Lady Cardinals.
“I told our girls before, I said, we have a team that can beat that team because of the way we play. And everything worked exactly how we wanted until about halfway through the third quarter.” Coach Casalman said. “You prepare so hard, and get ready for that team and then kind of have a layover for the next one. And I hope that’s what that was. We will definitely find out tomorrow in practice.”
The Lady Bulldogs are off Friday night as the scheduled game at Siloam Springs has been moved to next Tuesday, the 27th.
