Greenwood, Jonesboro to meet in Class 5A girls basketball state championship game

Kyle Sutherland I Photo by Ted McClenning

SHERIDAN — It almost seems like Greenwood has become comfortable with starting off games behind its opponents as it has become a regular occurrence during the regular season and this week during the Class 5A state state tournament.

The Lady Bulldogs have begun each of the past three games down 4-0 and the story was no different Saturday afternoon as they defeated Marion 66-42 advancing to the state finals.

“It seems like so many games have started out that way, even in our conference,” Greenwood Coach Clay Reeves said. “Being down 6-2, 8-0, 9-0 we always seem to start out that way the first few possessions, and then they start playing. This group just came on all year as a team playing unselfish and bought into everything that we do and it is paying off.”

Greenwood will play in the state title game against defending Class 5A state champion Jonesboro at noon on Thursday at Bank OZK Arena.

After defeating Jacksonville 42-41 on Friday and advancing to play Greenwood, the first thing Marion Coach Shunda Johnson mentioned that would be a key to the game is “Stop No 2”, referring to star guard/forward Mady Cartwright. The Lady Patriots were not able to execute that plan as Cartwright was the game’s leading scorer with 23 points after scoring 29 in a thriller with West Memphis that came down to the wire.

Cartwright was arguably the top player in the tournament with her performances in the past two games. Despite scoring only eight points in the opening round against Parkview, she was solid on the boards pulling down 12 rebounds.

Marion hung around early down just 13-9 after the first quarter, but by halftime Greenwood led by 16 points and the momentum favored the Lady Bulldogs the rest of the way as they shot the ball very well and their length was just too much for the Lady Patriots.

Cartwright’s counterpart, sophomore Anna Trusty, had her best game of the tournament with a double-double scoring 21 points and 10 rebounds following a slow start on getting shots to fall. She was also consistent on the defensive end with four steals.

“Anna was not hitting well to start, but she is always very consistent,” Reeves said. “If I had to guess, I would say she is probably shooting 50% or over. It was not a good percentage to start with, but her final stats are always a high shooting percentage.”

Carley Sexton, the hero of the West Memphis game, who hit the game-winning 3-point shot, also had another solid performance with 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals.

Kiera Neal led Marion in scoring with 18 while Jessica Robins added 9.

Jonesboro 61 Little Rock Christian 44

Other than Little Rock Christian starting off with a 3-0 lead courtesy of a deep shot from Katelyn Young, it seemed like Jonesboro dominated this game all the way through. 

For the most part they did, going on a 17-4 run following Young’s bucket before Kate Denton connected on a three of her own to give LRCA some breathing room.

The Lady Warriors (24-5) probably felt good about going into halftime only down 13 considering the circumstances, but once they came back out onto the floor the Lady Hurricane (22-6) continued to impose their will up 50-32 at the start of the fourth.

North Texas signee Ereauna Hardaway led Jonesboro with 17 points, Bramyia Johnson had 15, and Memphis signee Destiny Thomas added 13.

Ashton Elley led all scorers with 19 points, including five 3-pointers.