Heritage Can’t Match Greenwood’s Pace

Saturday, December 1, 2012

— Rogers Heritage made its first four shots from the floor Friday night, but that failed to deter Greenwood.

Junior guard Lundon Williams poured in 26 of her game-high 29 points in the first half to help the Lady Bulldogs roll up a big halftime lead en route to a 65-55 victory in the Great Eight Classic at King Arena.

Prep Basketball

Nonconference

GREENWOOD 65, ROGERS HERITAGE 55

Greenwood 23 25 9 00 — 65

Heritage 18 10 19 00 — 55

Greenwood (3-0): Williams 29, Hartness 14, Henson 7, Richards 6, Roberts 5, Barnes 4,

Rogers Heritage (3-1): B. Ward 19, Lundy 16, A. Ward 10, Giesen 5, Murray 3, Jobst 2.

Greenwood (3-0) advances to the tournament finals and will face Ozark, Mo., today at 4:30 p.m. Heritage (3-1) will face 7A/6A-West Conference foe and crosstown rival Rogers High at 3 p.m. in the third-place game.

Greenwood took control with a big second-quarter run, but held off a late Heritage charge. The Lady War Eagles cut a 20-point halftime deficit to eight and had a couple of chances to get closer.

But the Lady Bulldogs spread the floor late and ran out the clock.

Heritage coach Kevin Ramey said he charged his team to take care of the ball, rebound and guard the perimeter. None of that got done in the first half.

“We were 0-for-3 there,” Ramey said. “We got real loose with the basketball. But let’s be honest, Williams really dominated the first half with the way she shot the basketball. She got some good looks, but she stroked them.”

Williams enjoyed a huge first half, but got help from sophomore Megan Hartness. Hartness and Williams, a 5-foot-6 junior, combined for 40 points in the first two quarters as Greenwood jumped to a 48-28 halftime advantage.

The Lady War Eagles also struggled with Greenwood’s defensive pressure, Ramey said.

“We did some things that were out of character for us, but their pressure had something to do with that,” Ramey said. “I was proud of how our kids tried to come back in the second half, but we didn’t make enough plays in the first half to keep it close enough.”

Heritage trailed only 27-23 with 5 minutes, 48 seconds left in the first half. But Greenwood, the defending Class 5A state champions who have moved up to 6A this season, turned up the pressure and went on an 18-3 run to take command.

The Lady War Eagles went slightly less than six minutes without a field goal. In the meantime, Williams torched Heritage on the offensive end, scoring 13 in the run.

Williams drained six 3-pointers in the half, each from well beyond the 3-point line. She added a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter, after Heritage had pulled within nine.

Brittany Ward led Heritage with 19, while Ellen Lundy added 16 and Ashley Ward chipped in 10.

BEEBE 48, LITTLE ROCK McCLELLAN 26

Jamie Jackson and Kalela Miller combined for 34 points to lead the Lady Badgers to the easy victory.

Jackson poured in a game-high 20 points, while Miller chipped in 14 for Beebe (3-1), which will take on Fort Smith Southside in the fifth-place game this afternoon at 1:30 p.m.

McClellan will take on Little Rock Christian in the seventh-place game at noon.