Greenwood playoff run ends at Almond-Bancroft

By Valorie Brecht and Cheyenne Thomas With a 16-9 overall record and a 9-5 conference record, the Greenwood girls basketball team concluded the 2024-25 season in a playoff run that ended in the second round of regional playoff competition. The Indians defeated Newman Catholic in the first round at home on Feb. 25 before traveling to Almond-Bancroft on Feb. 28 where they fell in a narrow loss to end their season.

Newman It took a while for the Indians to get started in their first game of the regional round of playoffs, with Newman taking an early 4-0 lead in the game’s opening minutes. The girls took their time in adjusting, but they began to hit their stride about five minutes into the game, being more aggressive with rebounds under the net and putting up shots to rally back to a 12-7 lead by the 13-minute mark. Stolen balls downcourt led to scores by Addison Davidson and Tatym Travis, putting them up 20-10.

The first half of the game concluded with Greenwood up 31-20. In the second half of the game, Greenwood continued to build on that lead, almost doubling their score while keeping Newman contained to just 15 points in the second half. Greenwood’s effectiveness under the net to recover rebounds helped push the Indians to victory over the Cardinals, ending the night with a 57-35 win.

For Greenwood, Davidson made 16 points, was 2-for-2 at the line and made two 3-pointers. Eliska Louckova scored 15 points, including one 3-pointer, and Travis contributed eight points and was 4-for-6 at the free throw line.

Almond-Bancroft On Friday night, Greenwood, the five seed in their playoff bracket, traveled to Almond to play Almond-Bancroft (AB), the four seed. Their close rankings were also reflected in the competitiveness and intensity of the game. Both teams started with some playoff jitters, missing shots and making poor passes. But once they settled in, it was game on. The teams tied at 5, 7, 15, and 17 points during the first half, with AB ending the half slightly ahead at 21-18.

The second half opened with Davidson stealing the ball, which she promptly delivered for a layup. Not long after, Eliska Louckova made a fast break that turned into another two points for Greenwood. That energy would continue for Greenwood, and the Indians went up by as much as 10 points, 40-30, with six minutes left in the game. However, basketball is often game of momentum, and as quickly as Greenwood had gained the momentum, AB took it back and brought the score with one point with three minutes left.

The teams traded score for score and tied at 44 and again at 47 points with only 14 seconds to go. Greenwood took the ball down the court and Tysen Lindner was fouled with 3.5 seconds left. She went to the line and made one free throw. AB got the ball back and called a timeout with 2.9 on the clock. When the ref blew the whistle to resume play, AB lobbed the ball down the court to a player who was waiting near the basket and she put it up and in just as the buzzer sounded for the 49-48 victory. The Greenwood crowd sat back, stunned. It had been a battle all the way through but this time Greenwood didn’t come out on top.

“It’s a tough one to lose. I feel bad for our seniors (Louckova, Davidson, Lindner, and Bria Thomas) to end their season this way,” said coach Trevor Wuethrich. “But I have be proud of what we accomplished this year. We were a 500 team, we took third in the conference, five seed in the playoffs. And a lot of that is credit to our senior leadership. They’ve put in a lot of work, a lot of sweat out on the courts.

“Someone once told me, ‘If you fall in love with the process without being emotionally attached to the outcome, you’ll end up loving what the outcome brings.’ This hits me more today than ever. I’m just so happy with the growth of this team this season.”

The Greenwood girls had fairly even scoring across the board against AB, with point totals as follows: Louckova 12, Lindner 11, Davidson 10, Travis 10, and Faith Kolano 5. Kolano had five rebounds while Lindner had four.

VALORIE BRECHT AND CHEYENNE THOMAS/STAFF PHOTOS