Arkansas power Greenwood too much for Nixa in Pink Division championship
One of the premiere girls basketball programs in Arkansas looked the part Friday in front of a partisan Missouri audience.
Top-seeded Greenwood was too much for No. 3 seed Nixa in the Pink and White Lady Classic championship at O'Reilly Event Center, a 66-51 result bolstered by the Fort Smith-area school's ability to stretch defenses.
Greenwood, the defending Class 5A Arkansas state champions, connected on six of its nine 3-pointers in the third quarter and leaned on one of the Natural State's most talented duos.
Junior guard Anna Trusty scored a game-high 23 points and Tulsa recruit Madison Cartwright added 18 for the Bulldogs.
They combined for 17 points in a game-changing third-quarter that put the Eagles in a double-digit hole they couldn't escape.
Nixa (10-2), a runner-up in this tournament two of the past three years, didn't help itscause by committing 23 turnovers.
"We played hard, but we weren't as tough as we could have been and turned the ball over," Nixa coach Jennifer Perryman said. "I could have put them in better positions."
Nixa, ranked fifth in the latest Class 6 poll, trailed most of the Pink Division finale, but it was an early aggressor.
The Eagles jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Greenwood changed gears and went on an 18-6 run.
Longtime Greenwood coach Clay Reeves has six state titles to his name, championships this past March and in 2020.
Cartwright said she didn't know much about the longtime Springfield basketball tournament comprising mostly of southwest Missouri teams, but was glad to come away a winner.
"We came in kind of blind, so we just played our game," Cartwight said. "(After watching Nixa in the tournament), we knew they were going to be tough, and were going to go inside a lot, so we needed to push the ball."
Nixa forward Norah Clark, a Tennessee-Martin recruit, led the Eagles with 16 points. Allison Jones added 10 points.
Perryman hopes Friday's test against the Arkansas power will prepare Nixa for the grind of district play.
"I don't think there is anything for us to hang our heads about," she said. "We have some things to learn from this, but I am so proud of them."
Pink Division trophy games
Championship: No. 1 Greenwood 66, No. 3 Nixa 51
Third-place game: No. 4 Rock Bridge 55, No. 2 West Plains 49
Fifth-place game: No. 8 Ozark 42, No. 6 Ava 32
Consolation championship: Bolivar 71, Camdenton 45
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Pink and White: Greenwood beats Nixa for Pink championship.
