Greenwood pulls away from Little Rock Parkview for first-round win
By Kyle Sutherland I Photos by Ted McClenning
SHERIDAN - It took a little bit of time to knock off some rust, but top-seeded Greenwood knocked off Little Rock Parkview 56-35 in the first round of the Class 5A state girls basketball tournament Tuesday at Sheridan High School.
Both teams got off to slow starts as thre were three turnovers in a row before Jada Page and Tyra Robinson scored a bucket each to give the Lady Patriots a 4-0 lead. Greenwood bounced back to lead 5-4 and did not trail again but really got rolling when Megan Gray connected from long range, one of her two 3-pointers in the first quarter.
“We really did not know what to expect because they have been real up and down throughout the year and really came on strong at the end,” Greenwood Coach Clay Reeves said. “We caused a few more turnovers than I thought we would. I did not think we handled the pressure as well as we needed to or usually do, but sometimes when you have a good lead there can be some hesitation.”
Down by a manageable five points after the first quarter, Parkview shot themselves in the foot with multiple missed opportunities at the free-throw line and turnovers. Sophomore Anna Trusty took matters into her own hands leading her team on a 8-2 run scoring all eight of her points in the second quarter.
Though Parkview was not able to muster up much offense in the first half, they came out of the locker room looking like a completely different team. After allowing an early three from Carley Sexton Deanna Kamanga scored, and then another by Robinson, making it 36-16. Those two buckets led to a 10-0 Lady Patriots run, but ultimately it was too late.
“We dug ourselves into a hole,” Parkview Coach Lahoma Howard said. “We burned a whole lot of energy trying to get back into the game. We were looking pretty good and then started doing other things [to hurt ourselves].”
Parkview held the Greenwood offense to just 10 points in the third with star guards Mady Cartwright and Trusty on the bench for some of the quarter with four fouls each, but Gray, Sexton, and Abby Summitt were three who really picked up the slack in their absence.
“Parkview and Coach Howard-they’re winners,” Reeves said. “She always has been, they always have been, and I told our girls that they are not going to settle for the score to be this way. They are going to come out and punch you. and we have to be ready to punch back and face the challenge.”
The Lady Bulldogs earned most of their points in the final quarter from the charity stripe to continue adding to the lead and advance to the second round.
Sexton led all scorers with 18, Summit had 12, and Gray had 9, all three pointers. Cartwright had eight but was dominant on the boards pulling down 12.
Jordan Gregory led the Lady Patriots with 12 points.
Jacksonville 60 Russellville 55
It looked like Jacksonville was going to breeze through after dominating the first half, 34-16, but the Lady Cyclones fought until the end. Russellville cut the lead to 11 points but with 5.5 seconds left it was just a three-point Jacksonville lead and they were able to escape moments later 60-55. Da’Kariya Jackson had a huge day with 31 points to lead all scorers. Sophomore Brenna Burk led the Lady Cyclones with 16.
Paragould 49 Lake Hamilton 38
Paragould came in as the four-seed from the rugged East fully prepared to upset the top seed Lake Hamilton from the South, No. 6 in the SBLive Arkansas rankings, and they did just that. Things began slowly as the first bucket of the game was not until Lake Hamilton senior Ginny Higgenbotham connected from long range with 5:25 remaining in the first quarter. The Lady Wolves trailed by just one point at halftime, but Paragould came out swinging in the second and hit their free throws when they needed to and moved on.
