ALMA -- Greenland is accustomed to posing for pictures at midcourt with championship trophies.
The Lady Pirates were all smiles again Wednesday after defeating Scranton 56-35 in the championship game of the Airedale Classic at Dyer Arena. Kim Crown scored 23 points for Greenland (9-4), which won its second tournament title in three years at Alma.
Airedale Classic at Alma High School
Wednesday’s results
BOYS
Championship
Farmington 69, Alma 63
Third place
West Fork 57, Lavaca 49
Fifth place
Gravette 57, Fountain Lake 52
Seventh place
Greenland 50, Scranton 37
GIRLS
Championship
Greenland 56, Scranton 35
Third place
Farmington 58, Gravette 27
Fifth place
Alma 38, Fountain Lake 37
Seventh place
Lavaca 54, West Fork 49
Greenland 56, Scranton 35
Greenland^14^15^11^16^—^56
Scranton^4^9^12^10—^35
Greenland (9-4): Crown 23, Arnold 15, Wright 7, Bohannan 5, Redmond 2, Stout 2, Osburn 2.
Scranton (18-3): E. Schluterman 11, Forst 11, Kremers 4, Geels 3, A. Schluterman 2, Willems 2, Shelton 1, Fox 1.
Class 1A Scranton (18-3) was no match for a team that's won three of the past four championships in Class 3A. Crown and guard Allie Arnold traded baskets early for Greenland, which led 14-4 after one quarter and 29-13 at halftime.
Arnold added 15 points for Greenland while Emmy Schluterman and Shelby Forst each had 11 to lead Scranton. The Lady Pirates won three tournament games handily to take some momentum into 3A-1 Conferences games next week in home games against West Fork and Lavaca.
"We got better and we're figuring out some things," Greenland coach Alan Barton said. "People are going to key on Kim and Kim's got to fight through that and keep her cool. The role players have to attack the basket and get rebounds and I thought we did a good job with that."
Greenland took an 8-0 lead behind two baskets each from Arnold and Crown, who finished with 23 points for the second time in the tournament. Scranton made only one basket in the first quarter on a 3-pointer by Emma Schluterman. The Lady Pirates increased their lead to 25-6 before Schluterman scored again on a 3-pointer.
Greenland kept up the pace in in the third quarter when Arnold and Sarah Wright made consecutive 3-pointers to go ahead 37-16.
BOYS
Farmington 69, Alma 63
Matt Wilson and Matt Thomas combined for 56 points to give Farmington the victory in the championship boys' game.
Wilson led all scorers with 31 points while Thomas followed with 25 for the Cardinals, who trailed 52-49 after three quarters. Wilson converted a three-point play and made a driving layup to give Farmington a 60-54 lead. Thomas followed with four consecutive free throws to put Farmington a 66-60 lead.
Thomas was 8 of 8 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. Alex Benaux finished with 17 points for Alma, which made three 3-pointers in the final seconds to stay close.
Sports on 12/31/2015