GREENWOOD — Greenwood never trailed on Tuesday night in either varsity game, and the Bulldogs capped a sweep of rival Alma in the nightcap.
Ronin Stewart scored 13 of his 19 points in the first 11 minutes and Greenwood never looked back in a 53-41 win in the 6A/5A-1 opener for both schools.
Greenwood (6-8, 1-0) led 15-7 after a quarter with Stewart scoring nine points and 19-7 with 5:04 left before the half with Stewart scoring the opening two buckets of the second quarter.
Alma (6-6, 0-1) trimmed Greenwood’s lead back to 23-18 at the half with a 9-0 run to end the second quarter, aided by a 3-point bucket by Christian Stahler, an old-fashioned three-point play by Kade Wood and another trey by Cejay Mann.
“We talked about that prior to the game how they can go on a streak scoring,” Greenwood head coach Greg Nichols said. “When they did, we had to slow it down and stop the bleeding. They went on that 9-0 run on us.”
That was as close as Alma closed the gap, though. Up, 32-27, Greenwood scored the third quarter’s final seven points on a save by Easton Barrett to Neil Rice, who scored underneath, a basket inside by Barrett, two free tosses by Jordan Sheppard and a lone free throw by Zane Harmon for a 39-25 lead after three quarters.
“Our kids played well,” Nichols said. “We had two in double figures and we usually have three but nobody forced up shots. Everybody played pretty well.”
Greenwood held a double-digit lead throughout the fourth quarter.
Rice added 13 points, and Sheppard eight for Greenwood, which committed just five turnovers in the game.
“If you can keep the turnovers in single digits against a good ball team like that, we’ll take that every time,” Nichols said.
Brayden Johnson scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 12 to pace Alma. Wood added 11 points.
Greenwood 66, Alma 32
GIRLS — The Lady Bulldogs never trailed, built a big halftime advantage and cruised to the win in the conference opener.
Harley Terry scored two early baskets for a 4-0 lead for Greenwood, which led 16-6 after a quarter.
The Lady Bulldogs (8-7, 1-0) added 24 points in the second quarter helped by 3-pointers by Kyiah Julian and Susannah Stein and a conventional three-point play by Stormi Baggs.
Greenwood held Alma to just two buckets in the quarter and took a 40-10 lead at the half.
“Our kids played hard, they played with a lot of energy,” Greenwood head coach Clay Reeves said. “We’re moving the ball better, we’re looking inside and looking outside. Those are things that we’ve been talking about, doing all of those things, more movement and spacing on offense. Our kids did a good job of it.”
The Lady Bulldogs grabbed 10 of their 21 offensive rebounds in the second quarter and used a 12-0 run to go up, 31-8, with 3:45 left before the half.
“The thing that really killed us especially in that second quarter was giving them two, three, four chances and then they’re just playing horse out there passing back out and shooting threes,” Alma head coach Codey Mann said. “One person made one, two made them, three made them and then it was just a domino effect. The next thing we know, we look up and we’re down 15, 20, 25, 30.”
Alma (5-9, 0-1) cut into Greenwood’s lead in the third quarter, outscoring the Lady Bulldogs by an 18-15 count with Cassidy Cooper drilling three treys in the quarter and Bailey Hoffsommer scoring off two inbounds passes.
Greenwood forced 25 turnovers in the game and invoked the Arkansas Activities Association’s Sportsmanship Rule in the fourth quarter.
“That’s what we’re trying to stress first is our defense to lead to our offense,” Reeves said. “We spend a lot of time on offensive stuff but not patterned offenses.”
Kinley Fisher led Greenwood in scoring with 16 points with 14 in the first half. Baggs and Terry each scored 11.