GREENWOOD — Huntsville felt the grind of its condensed schedule Tuesday at Greenwood.
Playing their sixth game in eight days, the Lady Eagles went 2 of 22 from threepoint range and lost 46-24 to Greenwood on Senior Night at H.B. Stewart Bulldog Arena.
“Our legs were dead,” Huntsville Coach Charlie Berry said. “I’m not making excuses, but we are dead. We shot badly, and we’re not great shooters anyway. We just couldn’t get a shot to go down.”
Taylor Grigg hit Huntsville’s first three-pointer with 5:30 left in the third quarter, but the Lady Eagles (10-15, 5-8 5AWest) had already missed 10 shots from beyond the arc by then. Huntsville, which trailed 22-11 after Grigg’s three-pointer, was unable to cut Greenwood’s lead to fewer than 11 points the rest of the way.
“They did miss a lot of shots,” Greenwood Coach Clay Reeves said. “One is I think we were running at them pretty good, trying to get out on them, but two is when you play six games in eight days, that probably gets your legs a little bit.
“That’s very unfortunate for them, and I think that probably affected their play some, but I thought our kids competed hard.”
Greenwood wasn’t much better from long range, hitting 2 of 13 three-pointers, but the Lady Bulldogs outrebounded Huntsville 28-16. Endsley Evans, Allie Barnes and reserve forward Jessica Moudy grabbed five rebounds each for Greenwood.
The Lady Bulldogs (19-8, 11-2 5A-West), who remained tied with Vilonia atop the 5AWest standings, never trailed and used a 15-2 run to take a 20-6 lead in the final minute of the first half. Evans scored eight points for Greenwood during its decisive run and led all scorers with 14 points.
“She played well,” Reeves said of Evans, a junior forward who recently returned to the lineup after missing four weeks with mononucleosis. “When you’re a post player you’ve got to finish the shots and post up, but we’ve got tohave very unselfish guards - which we do - to get it to our post players.
“I think our kids play well together.”
Freshman point guard Lundon Williams added 10 points and recorded two steals for Greenwood, which led 20-8 at halftime and 31-16 after three quarters.
“She’s played really well this year, just like all of our other guards have,” Reeves said of Williams. “All of our kids are standouts in certain areas. I tell our kids they all have a role, and her role is to be our point guard and our leader taking care of the ball.”
Grigg was Huntsville’s leading scorer with six points.
HUNTSVILLE (24) Cain 1 0-1 2, Grigg 2 1-2 6, Striplin 1 0-0 2, Campbell 1 0-0 2, Rodden 2 1-3 5, McCoy 1 0-0 2, Jones 2 0-0 5 Totals 10 2-6 24.
GREENWOOD (46) Barnes 1 3-3 5, Donald 0 1-2 1, Wilson 1 2-2 5, Williams 4 1-1 10, Evans 5 4-6 14, Moudy 2 1-2 5, Richards 3 0-0 6. Totals 16 12-16 46.
Huntsville (10-15, 5-8) .......4 4 8 8 - 24 Greenwood (19-8, 11-2) .... 11 9 11 15 - 46 Three-point goals - Huntsville 2 (Grigg, Jones), Greenwood 2 (Wilson, Williams). Team fouls - Huntsville 14, Greenwood 9.
BOYS GREENWOOD 62, HUNTSVILLE 59
Huntsville (15-10, 6-7) hit 3 threepointers in the final 3:03, but Greenwood (13-12, 6-7) held on to pull even with the Eagles in the 5A-West Conference standings.
Ryan Lensing led Greenwood with 21 points, and Billyjack Freeman scored eight of his 17 points in the fourth quarter for the Bulldogs.
Tucker Trumbo scored 32 points for Huntsville, including 14 in the fourth quarter, and Bailey Counts added 10 for the Eagles.
Cody Stevens hit a three-pointer with 6.6 seconds remaining, cutting Greenwood’s lead to 61-59, but Huntsville could get no closer.
HUNTSVILLE (59) Counts 2 4-6 10, Trumbo 10 9-10 32, Kirk 2 2-2 6, Stevens 3 0-0 8, Emitt 1 0-0 3. Totals 18 15-18 59.
GREENWOOD (62) Caudle 2 1-2 5, Freeman 6 2-8 17, Fritsche 0 0-2 0, Hankins 1 0-0 2, Lensing 6 6-8 21, Suter 2 1-2 6, McAllister 3 0-0 6, Morgan 2 1-6 5. Totals 22 11-28 62.
Huntsville (15-10, 6-7) ..... 12 18 7 22 - 59 Greenwood (13-12, 6-7) .....6 18 16 22 - 62 Three-point goals - Huntsville 8 (Trumbo 3, Counts 2, Stevens 2, Emitt) Greenwood 7 (Freeman 3, Lensing 3, Suter). Team fouls - Huntsville 24, Greenwood 17. Fouled out - Counts, Kirk.
Sports, Pages 19 on 02/23/2011