COMMENTARY

Basketball: Fayetteville, Greenland girls bring home the trophies

Is it OK to push the rewind button on some winter games before sliding headlong into the outdoor sports?

I think so, especially with the All-NWADG basketball teams listed in today's paper.

Fayetteville and Greenland won state championships to show once again the girls in Northwest Arkansas outperform the boys on the basketball courts. Girls teams from our area have won seven state titles and the boys none in the past five years. Greenland and Fayetteville have combined for five of those titles with one each going to Prairie Grove and Shiloh Christian. The last boys team from Northwest Arkansas to win a state championship was Fayetteville in 2009.

The biggest surprise this season was the Fayetteville girls, who won it all in Class 7A. Just ask Conway, which beat the Lady Bulldogs by 15 points earlier in the season.

But Fayetteville showed again what happens in November and December often bears little resemblance to what happens in February and March. Conway and Fayetteville met for a rematch in Hot Springs, and the Lady Bulldogs took home the title with a 63-54 victory over the defending state champions.

That's a 24-point swing, folks.

"We looked back on (the first game) and we're like, 'We're not going to let this happen again,'" said Tournament MVP Sydney Crockett, who scored 23 points in the win over Conway. "We were going to get this done."

Predicting Greenland to win in Class 3A is like picking Kentucky to win it all in your NCAA Tournament bracket. The Lady Pirates are a dominant program with six state titles, including three in the past four years.

Greenland beat Valley Springs 72-53 to end the year with 21 consecutive wins by at least 10 points. The Lady Pirates finished 33-2 and won 13 games by 30 points or more.

"It's all about trying to build habits," Greenland coach Alan Barton said. "We talk about that from the time they're in kindergarten, because I'm an elementary teacher. If you build habits right, they'll become natural."

We can't discuss surprise teams without mentioning the Pine Bluff boys, who were only 13-13 during the regular season. Something happened in the land of the Zebras during the 6A state tournament, when Pine Bluff beat two No. 1 seeds and won its first state championship since 2003.

In the title game, Pine Bluff pounced on Jonesboro early and held on for a 46-43 victory over the Hurricane, who finished 25-5 and beat 7A championship North Little Rock twice during the regular season.

The Siloam Springs girls also made a run in Class 6A before falling 39-31 to Greenwood, which is led by Clay Reeves, the former Greenland coach. The Lady Panthers finished 18-12 with state tournament wins over Pine Bluff, Mountain Home and Little Rock Parkview.

All eyes will be on Bentonville next year when Malik Monk attempts to lead the Tigers to a state championship before heading off to the big time. Bentonville came close this year before losing 66-59 to North Little Rock in the championship game. North Little Rock always takes the court with plenty of athletes, but they'll no longer have seniors K.J. Hill and KeVaughn Allen, who combined for 47 points against Bentonville.

Bentonville's dominance in all sports does not include a state championship in basketball. Monk and his teammates will try to change that before the school district splits beginning in 2016.

Reach Rick Fires by email at rfires@nwadg or on Twitter @NWARick

Sports on 03/29/2015

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