GREENWOOD — Kyiah Julian isn't Greenwood's first option. That's not to say she couldn't be someone else's first option.
On a team with so many scoring threats, Julian does her part to keep pace. Friday it was her turn to lead the team in scoring.
Julian scored 15 of her game-high 24 points in the first half as the Lady Bulldogs outlasted gritty Clarksville, 63-48, at H.B. Stewart Arena.
"I could feel it when I was releasing it that it was going to be my night," Julian said. "It's been awhile, so it felt really good."
"I thought we shot the ball really well," Greenwood coach Clay Reeves said. "I know Ky hit a lot of big shots, but we had some other kids step up and hit one or two big threes. I would us to hit a little more high percentage by all of our players."
Greenwood (9-7, 2-0) started quickly. Baskets by Haven Clements and Ally Sockey capped a 17-6 run to open the game.
Sockey and Shea Goodwin opened the second quarter with back-to-back treys for a 23-9 lead.
But after the hot start, which saw the Lady Bulldogs bury five 3-pointers, Clarksville found its footing. And, even on a night when senior standout Grace Dougan was held to just two field goals, the Lady Panthers held their own.
"I didn't think we'd be able to match-up with them man-to-man, so we came out in a zone, and when a team is hitting shots like that, there isn't much you can do about it," Clarksville coach Randy Talley said. "I thought we played pretty well."
Two late buckets by Stormi Baggs gave the Lady Bulldogs a 16-point lead with a minute to play in the first half.
But the Panthers (8-8, 0-2) closed to within 38-26 on two late baskets by Alexie Tibbs and K.K. Phillips.
"I thought they played harder than us on their offensive end," Reeves said. "That's something you can come back and work on video with."
Clarksville sophomore post Emmaline Rieder led the Lady Panthers with 17 points.
"We spread our defense out and that opens it up a little bit more," Reeves said. "We felt like we got more out of our defense instead of backing up more. We've got to stop dribble penetration, not foul, and rebound a little bit better."
Greenwood 77, Clarksville 58
BOYS — Clarksville maintained a lead throughout much of the first half and most of the third with barrage of 3-pointers.
Then, down by seven halfway through the fourth quarter, the Greenwood Bulldogs woke up.
Senior Jordan Sheppard certainly did.
Sheppard scored 14 points in a span of 2½ minutes as Greenwood rallied for a 77-58 victory at H.B. Stewart Arena.
Sheppard finished with 30 points.
"The first half I was struggling a little bit," he said. "The second half, I saw the ball go through the net and that got my confidence going a little bit. Then after that buzzer-beater, everything just kind of came together."
Clarksville shots lights out in the first half. Paced by Trace Thomas and Bob Hurley's hot hand, the Panthers led by four at the half, and stretched the lead to 45-38 with 3:18 left in the third quarter.
Greenwood then proceeded to score 13 straight points to close the quarter. Sheppard provided most of the fireworks.
He drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game at 49, then scored six points in the final 0:28.6 of the third quarter — three the old-fashioned way and another buzzer-beater with 0:02.1.
He opened the fourth with another trey and followed that with a layup, capping a 20-0 Greenwood scoring run.
Jack Gaston and Neil Rice had 19 and 10 points, respectively, for the Bulldogs.
Thomas led Clarskville with 24. Hurley had 20.