Greenwood girls maintain defensive firewall to win Loyal rematch

By Valorie Brecht One week after losing to Loyal in a double overtime thriller, the Greenwood girls won at home in a defensive battle that tested both teams.

The Jan. 16 game started with the teams neck-and-neck, with Greenwood up 4-3 after three minutes. With heavy defensive pressure on both ends of the court, the teams struggled to find an open look, much less make a basket. It quickly became clear that this matchup was not going to resemble the high-powered scoring showdown of the week before.

After a couple minutes of no scoring, Britney Walde made a jump shot from the top of the key, just shy of 3-point range, to put Greenwood up 6-3. Twenty seconds later, Loyal’s Addysen Wolf was fouled and made a free throw to make it 6-4. However, Greenwood then went on a 4-point scoring run, starting with a basket and followed up with two free throws from Tatym Travis. That made it 10-4 in Greenwood’s favor.

Both teams struggled to get anything going over the next couple of minutes. Summer Smith knocked away two inbound passes by Greenwood, and Sarah Beth Reiff blocked a Loyal inbound pass. Loyal instituted a full-court press to amp up the pressure against Greenwood. Avry Wuethrich also stole a pass intended for Loyal and raced down the court, but missed the shot.

Finally at 10 minutes left in the half, Wolf landed a three from the top of the arc to put Loyal at 7. The next time Loyal got the ball, Greenwood ran their own fullcourt press. It was slow going for the next three minutes. Eventually, a Greenwood player got called for traveling. When Loyal got the ball back, Sheila Tellock went to the line and landed both of her free throws to make it 10-9, Greenwood still ahead. At 6:40 remaining, Walde made a quick pass to Lindner, who sent it up for 3 points for Greenwood. Just 30 seconds later though, the Greyhounds responded with their own three from Olivia Nikolai, her second of the half, to tie it at 12.

There was another scoring lull for four minutes or so, with neither team getting close to the rim.

“You’re not moving! Player movement, ball movement!” Loyal coach Mike Rueth called out to his team from the sideline.

Finally, with two-and-a-half minutes left, Loyal’s Jordynn Corder drove to the basket and made a layup to put Loyal ahead, 14-12, for the first time since their first basket of the game. Immediately after that, Travis was fouled and put in one. Greenwood had the chance to fire off another shot before the half was done, but missed, and that left the score 14-13 Loyal at halftime.

Heading back to the basketball court in the second half, the Greenwood Indians had a bit more spring in their step. Travis got things started by rebounding a teammate’s shot and putting it back in for a score. Lindner made her own 2-pointer from close range not long after. At 13:36 on the clock, Autumn Zvolena hit a jumper for Loyal to make it 17-16, Loyal trailing. There was another scoring drought for the next four minutes, with both teams working the ball around but not finding any openings.

At 9:13, Walde was fouled on and went to the line. She missed her first, but sunk her second. Shortly after that, Corder did the reverse for Loyal, making her first but missing her second. At 8:19, Travis was fouled while going up for a basket. She completed both her free throws. Lindner followed that up in the next minute by putting in two. As it turned out, that would the last field goal Greenwood would make for the game. All the rest of their points would come from free throws.

As the seconds ticked down, the Greyhounds struggled to move the ball or find any kind of a rhythm. They also got called for a travel, while Greenwood added 1 more point from Addison Davidson. At 5:14, Loyal broke through when Addysen Wolf got a putback. Greenwood responded not much later with another free throw, this time from Walde, to make it 24-19 in Greenwood’s favor. Loyal called a timeout with four-and-a-half minutes left, although not much changed after. Both teams found themselves at the line frequently with heavy fouling on both sides. Greenwood missed a free throw opportunity, as did Loyal. With just one minute left, Walde found herself at the charity stripe again and this time made both shots, putting some more distance between Greenwood and Loyal. Davidson also scored a free throw with 30 seconds left. Loyal was able to draw two fouls after that, but missed both opportunities; although even if the shots had been made, there was not enough time to make up the 8-point deficit. With the sounding of the final buzzer, Greenwood won 27-19. Between the two teams, there were only 46 points scored, a far cry from the week before when Loyal scored almost that many points on its own (43-39). Greenwood tamped down on Loyal’s scoring abilities, especially in the second half, only allowing the Greyhounds 5 points. “I think Olivia Nikolai beat us last week with her dribble-drive penetration. We just packed it in the zone, but our perimeter defense in our zone tonight held them to 19 points, so I’m pretty proud of that,” said Greenwood coach Trevor Wuethrich.

“Our team defense was great, so I want to commend the entire team for their defense. Offensively, I think Tatym and Britney were the key for that win today,” he added.

Travis and Walde had 11 and 6 points, respectively, with 4 of Walde’s points coming from free throws. There were no 3-pointers to be had for the Indians.

“I don’t think we shot very well, but when we needed them at the end, Britney Walde put them in for us and that’s really what sealed the game for us,” said Trevor Wuethrich.

Other scorers for Greenwood were Lindner with 8 and Davidson with 2.

“I have to commend Loyal too. They’re a phenomenal defense as well. But I would still like to see us work on our offense,” said Trevor Wuethrich.

On Loyal’s side, Wolf and Nikolai each picked up 6 points, with Wolf scoring one 3-pointer and Nikolai two 3-pointers. Corder scored 3 points, and Zvolena and Tellock each had 2.

This girls basketball game could have been the last one with the two schools as competitors, unless they happen to play each other in the playoffs. The Loyal board planned to vote Jan. 24 on approving a cooperative team between the two school districts, starting next school year.

VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTO