Greathouse Is Just Too Good

Welcome to the Greathouse.

In her first game in the Thunderdome, junior post player Kelly Greathouse of Buena High certainly made herself feel at home.

She scored 25 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to carry the Bulldogs to a 51-39 victory over Archbishop Prendergast of Drexel Hill, Pa., Friday night in the first round of the Nike Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions at UC Santa Barbara.

Not that it should have come as a much of a surprise.

After all, Greathouse has a built-in advantage. Her sister, Nicole, is a junior post player for UC Santa Barbara.

With Nicole playing close to home, the younger Greathouse said she has seen her sister play often at the Thunderdome.

She said she also has had the opportunity to play half-court games on the court.

“I like playing here because I’ve seen a lot of games here and I like the setting,” Greathouse said.

While she has practiced on the court before, Friday was the first time she has played a full-court game there and she didn’t waste the opportunity.

She scored all seven points for Buena (6-1) in the first quarter and wound up making 10 of 16 shots and all five of her free throws.

So much for first-game jitters.

The same could not be said for Archbishop Prendergast (5-2), which is regarded as the top team in the Philadelphia area and is ranked in the top 25 in the nation.

But the Pandas had difficulty matching up with the size and quickness of Buena.

Buena went ahead for good, 19-17, on a layup by Greathouse with 44 seconds remaining in the first half and led by 19 midway through the fourth quarter.

With several Buena players suffering from the flu, the Bulldogs were not at full strength.

That didn’t seem to stop post player Courtney LaVere of Buena. Still recovering from a bout with the flu earlier in the week, LaVere finished with 10 points and five rebounds.

“We were trying to watch her out there,” Coach Joe Vaughan said. “She was feeling kind of queasy--she gutted it out.”

Archbishop Prendergast didn’t help itself by making only 22.2% of its free throws (six of 27).

But after the Bulldogs suffered their first loss of the season, 60-57, to cross-town rival Ventura last week, they weren’t feeling much sympathy for the Pandas.

“We didn’t play well that night,” Greathouse said. “But I think tonight we showed we can play a lot better.”

The Bulldogs, ranked No. 7 in the nation before the loss to Ventura, plays South Sioux City of Nebraska in the quarterfinals of the National Championship Division at 6:30 tonight.