Bulldogs take control in second half

WILLARD, Mo. -- Fort Scott High's girls fell to Greenwood, Ark., 58-46, Saturday night in their final game of the round-robin Willard Tri-State Classic but played their best game so far in this young season.

The tournament had the exact same order of finish as last season with Greenwood winning the title without a loss and the Tigers again going 0-3. Shiloh Christian of Springdale, Ark., was second with Willard in third place.

But Fort Scott gave Greenwood -- a quarterfinalist in last year's Arkansas Class 5A State Tournament -- more than a run for its money, using an 7-0 outburst at the start of the second quarter as a momentum builder.

"The girls really came together," Fort Scott head coach Jeff Armstrong said. "When you're 0-2 and you get to your third game and you know you're not going to win the tournament, it shows a lot of character from the girls. How are you going to come out and play a team that's supposedly going to dominate you? We came out and didn't let them intimidate us. We actually frustrated them. We put them in a position where they were very uncomfortable and gave ourselves a very good chance to win the ball game."

The Tigers held a 6-0 lead early on as sophomore Jolee Sharp scored four points. But the Bulldogs went off on a 14-2 run, holding Fort Scott to just two free throws, as they took a 17-8 lead with a minute remaining in the first quarter.

Rachel Allen launched from just inside half court at the buzzer and hit a three-pointer for the Tigers. Then Afton Gray scored first in the second period on a stickback. Joce Allen stole the inbound pass and took it in for a layup. Then Gray took a pass from Allen and knocked in a three-point shot from the left wing off another Bulldog turnover. That put Fort Scott up 18-17 just 1:15 into the period.

The teams traded the lead over the rest of the period. Sharp hit a three-pointer from the top of the key to put the Tigers ahead 28-26 with 46 seconds remaining. But Alyssa DuVall hit a 12-footer for Greenwood to tie the game with 33 seconds left.

Greenwood's Samantha Gray put up a three-pointer near the end of the half but missed. Hannah Hawkins was fouled on the rebound with 2/10ths of a second remaining and made the second of her two free throws to give the lead back to Fort Scott going into the locker room.

Fort Scott's lead was 32-30 three minutes into the second half but Greenwood went on another run. This time, it was a 11-0 run that put the 'Dogs up 41-32 with exactly a minute to go in the period.

The Tigers kept fighting back but the Bulldogs continued to extend the lead, making it as large as 56-40 after Lacy Cook made consecutive baskets with around four minutes remaining.

"Greenwood started hitting some shots, some threes," Armstrong said of the second half. "In the first half, they couldn't quite get the rhythm. But in the third, they hit some big threes and some putbacks. We couldn't get some scores so we could get back into our press. So that slowed the game down, which favored them. That's how they got the lead. Then we were able to get back to how we wanted to play late in the game but it was too late to come back on them."

Greenwood apparently also determined that Sharp was a part of the Bulldogs' problems. The Bulldogs kept her out of the scorebook in the second half after she scored nine points in the first half. She also had only three of her game-high 12 rebounds in the second half.

Allen led the Tigers with 11 points while Gray followed with 10.

Chelsea Black, a 5' 10" senior, led the Bulldogs with 18 points as she made eight of 12 shots from the field. She also led Greenwood with eight points, five assists and five steals.

Samantha Gray added 15 points for the Bulldogs, who made 40 percent of their shots from the floor on 23-of-58 field-goal shooting. Greenwood also ad a slight 35-33 rebounding advantage.

Fort Scott made 33 percent of its shots from the field on 14 of 42 but went just one-for-nine in the third period.

Sharp also had four steals and two assists for the Tigers. Allen also dished to assists and Kori Page Rienbolt blocked two shots.

The Tigers travel to Pittsburg to open Southeast Kansas League play Tuesday night.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM -- Allen was the only Tiger named to the All-Tournament team. Also honored were Greenwood's Black, DuVall and Gray, Shiloh Christian's Chelsea Garrison, Megan Herbert and Bekah Williams, and Willard's Myriah Blair.

Willard also won the tournament's sportsmanship award.

GREENWOOD, Ark.: Kelley 0-0 0-0 0, Jay 0-1 0-0 0, Black 8-12 2-5 18, Barrett 3-5 0-0 7, Turner 0-3 2-2 2, Duvall 3-9 0-0 7, Gray 5-14 4-5 15, Donald 0-4 0-0 0, Clay 0-0 0-0 0, Cook 3-5 0-0 7, Davidson 1-5 0-2 2. TOTALS: 23-58 8-12 58.

FORT SCOTT: Gray 3-9 3-4 10, J.Allen 3-11 4-4 11, Sharp 4-6 0-1 9, Simpson 0-1 0-0 0, Rienbolt 1-6 4-4 6, Hawkins 0-5 2-6 2, Bingesser 0-0 0-0 0, R.Allen 3-4 1-3 8. TOTALS: 14-42 14-22 46.

Greenwood, Ark..... 17 11 13 17 -- 58

Fort Scott............... 11 18 5 12 -- 46

Three-point field goals: Greenwood 4-16 (Cook 1-1, Barrett 1-2, DuVall 1-4, Gray 1-6, Turner 0-1, Davison 0-2), Fort Scott 4-14 (R.Allen 1-1, Sharp 1-2, Gray 1-4, J.Allen 1-5, Simpson 0-1, Hawkins 0-1).

Total fouls: Greenwood 19, Fort Scott 14. Fouled out: DuVall.

Rebounds: Greenwood 35 (Black 8), Fort Scott 33 (Sharp 12). Assists: Greenwood 10 (Black 5), Fort Scott 4 (J.Allen 2, Sharp 2). Turnovers: Greenwood 15, Fort Scott 22. Steals: Greenwood 14 (Black 5), Fort Scott 8 (Sharp 4). Blocked shots: Greenwood 1 (Gray), Fort Scott 3 (Rienbolt 2).