HOT SPRINGS - Greenwood overcame a slow start and a third-quarter surge by Little Rock Parkview to claim a 64-49 victory and the Class 6A girls state championship Saturday at Summit Arena.

Greenwood (27-6), which had been averaging more than 80 points per game over the first three games of the state tournament, missed its first six shots and made only one of its first nine attempts from the floor. But the Lady Bulldogs made five consecutive field goals - four of them three-pointers - to build a lead the Lady Patriots couldn’t overcome.

“Our team played great through the state tournament … and they were outstanding today,” Greenwood Coach Clay Reeves said. “We had to fight back from a tough Parkview team, a team that has a great tradition from being here the last four years.

“I knew they’d make a run at us in the end, and our players just responded. They got some big rebounds and hit some big free throws. We had a pretty good season, but the end of the season just went great and perfect.”

Junior forward Megan Hartness led Greenwood with 27 points, while senior guards Lundon Williams and Haleigh Henson added 16 each. They have been the catalysts for the Lady Bulldogs’ postseason run and for the entire season.

“We have different players that would step up at different times,” Reeves said. “Most nights Lundon would lead us in scoring. But when teams would key in on her, we’d always have others to step up and score points. We had others that might not score many points, but they are playing great defense and grabbing rebounds.

“It takes a total team effort to be able to do all those things.”

Parkview (15-13) was playing in its sixth state championship game since 2004 and was trying to add its fifth state title in the span. This season, however, it was a .500 team coming into the state tournament after finishing sixth in the rugged 7A/6A-Central Conference, but the Lady Patriots defeated Sheridan, 7A/6A-South champion El Dorado and defending Class 6A state champ Little Rock Hall to advance to the title game.

“That just shows how tough our conference was this year,” Reeves said. “Parkview finished sixth in our conference but began to put things together last week at the state tournament, and here they were again this weekend, playing for a state championship.”

The Lady Patriots led twice Saturday, both times early in the first quarter when the Lady Bulldogs were struggling from the field. Greenwood took the lead for good with a 9-0 run, going up 14-7 when Hartness converted a threepoint play. A three-pointer by Williams made it 17-9 going into the second quarter.

Williams made Greenwood’s fifth consecutive three-pointer to open the second quarter and Hartness converted another three-point play that was followed a stickback by Sarah Elkins for a 25-11 advantage. The Lady Bulldogs’ lead reached 30-15 on Henson’s third three-pointer of the first half - the team’s sixth - and they led 36-24 going into halftime.

“The first half we let them get some easy baskets and didn’t contest many shots,” Parkview Coach Lahoma Howard said. “We made an adjustment at halftime. We knew Greenwood likes to shoot those threes, and we knew we had to limit those attempts.

“I think we did better guarding those three-point shots in the second half.”

Parkview started the second half with a three-pointer to cut the gap to 36-27, and the Lady Patriots ended up scoring 20 points in the third quarter and pulled to within 47-44 on a layup by Jalyn Davis, who scored 10 of her team-high 16 points in the third. But after a mostly quiet third quarter, Henson hit a huge three-pointer to end a 9-0 run by Parkview and Hartness converted another three-point play to put Greenwood ahead 53-44 heading to the fourth quarter.

“That was a big three,” Reeves said. “Haleigh hits most of her threes, and she usually hits a big three at just the right time.”

Greenwood missed the front end of two 1-and-1 opportunities to start the fourth quarter, but Parkview couldn’t get any closer than 55-48 when Morgan Brady hit a three-pointer with 6:11 left. The Lady Bulldogs hit 10 of 12 free throws to close out the game.

Davis led Parkview with 16 points, while fellow junior Sausha Davey and senior Christyal Holloway added 10 each.

Sports, Pages 24 on 03/16/2014