A daunting five-game stretch of the regular season will show head coach Anthony Thomas the might of his Waldron girls basketball program.

Over a three-week span, Waldron takes on a two-time defending regional champion, the No. 1 team in Class 2A, the No. 4 team in Class A, its sister-school program that has a winning record and then the No. 13 team in 2A. Combined, those five programs are currently 28-11.

The kicker is Waldron is 7-0 and now ranked No. 2 in Class A.

The challenging run started Saturday afternoon with a 70-40 win over Greenwood Christian, the Southwestern Regional champion the last two seasons.

Greenwood Christian head coach Alan Weems’ program was hit hard by graduation, though, and has just nine players on this season’s roster.

“We’re still learning and we’re just not shooting the ball well,” said Weems after the loss. “We have better shooters than we’re showing right now. We were 10-for-48 today and we’re hitting 32% for the year. So as soon as we start shooting the ball we will be better.”

There was no junior varsity game Saturday afternoon.

Waldron sent a statement early in the first quarter with four made 3s in the game’s first four minutes. The Mohawks raced out to a 14-1 lead and the game was never close.

Nichole Garner finished with a team-high 18 points which moved her into the 500-point club at Waldron. The senior also had six assists.

Megan Bogemann hit four 3s, including three in the opening quarter, and finished with 15 points.

Bella Larrison scored 10 points and collected five assists. Hadlie Ross has a game-high 12 rebounds.

Waldron led 45-20 at halftime and was one solid run away from initiating a running clock in the second half. And a 6-0 run to start the third quarter pushed the lead to 51-20 but turnovers and fouls start accumulating and the Mohawks went scoreless for nearly an 8-minute stretch.

“The kids were frustrated and we got out of our flow but the good thing is they did what they needed to do well in the first half so if you have to have a quarter like that, we can,” said Thomas. “It’s not ideal. We have to be better. We have to make better decisions.”

Dani Simon led Greenwood Christian with 20 points and seven rebounds. Dory O’Dell had four points and nine rebounds. Ellie Bigelow finished with 10 points – all from the free-throw line.

Simon, O’Dell and Bigelow are all seniors.

“We have had a lot of change (to our roster) and you see it,” said Weems. “It does take awhile to mesh everything. We’re still meshing.”

Waldron shot 49% from the field, 42% from the 3-point line, while trying to improve an up-tempo mentality.

“We are happy with these kids but we are always polishing and that’s what we’re trying to do with these kids now,” said Thomas, who rotated eight players Saturday with seven being seniors. “Not that they know everything or are the best team in the state but they have worked hard and absorbed the game to where now we can polish and fix these things that are glaring problems. Some of the things happening now will get better as the season goes along. That’s how you get to where you want to go.”

Waldron was 18-4 last season and suffered a 52-50 loss to eventual sectional champion Southwestern in its opening postseason game.

“Everything with this group right now is from what I call the 35,000-foot level, whether it be film or a specific possession in a game where you are teaching and learning from it and not making that mistake again, making teams earn their points, quit sending them to the free-throw line,” said Thomas, who has already announced his coaching retirement after this season. “With this group, there is a happy medium there. You want them to be extremely aggressive but you have to be aggressive when it warrants. Somewhere in the middle there is this team’s sweet spot and we haven’t found it yet, but we are working toward it.”

Waldron is at Class 2A, No. 1 Triton Central (6-0) Friday then hosts Class A, No. 4 Jac-Cen-Del (6-0) on Dec. 7. The Mohawks and Eagles are in the same sectional with Southwestern, Morristown, Hauser, Rising Sun and Oldenburg Academy.

Waldron then hosts Morristown (5-4) on Dec. 10 and travels to Class 2A, No. 13 North Decatur (8-2) on Dec. 17.

Waldron 70, Greenwood Christian 40

GC: Bigelow 0-8 10-15 10, O’Dell 1-7 2-6 4, Jolley 0-1 0-0 0, Simon 8-18 1-2 20, Waldron 1-12 1-2 4, Carlson 0-0 2-2 2, Swan 0-1 0-0 0, Petersen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 10-48 16-27 40.

WA: Had. Ross 2-3 0-0 4, Bogemann 5-8 1-2 15, Garner 7-15 2-3 18, B. Larrison 3-7 3-4 10, Shaw 1-1 0-0 2, J. Larrison 3-6 1-2 7, Fewell 2-5 0-0 5, Hal. Ross 3-7 1-2 7, Benson 0-0 2-2 2, Fischer 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 26-53 10-15 70.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

GC (3-5)    5  15  7  13  --  40

WA (7-0) 23  22  6  19  --  70

Three-pt. field goals: GC 4-19 (Bigelow 0-4, Simon 3-9, Waldron 1-6), WA 8-19 (Bogemann 4-7, Garner 2-4, B. Larrison 1-3, Fewell 1-2, Hal. Ross 0-3).

Rebounds: GC 26 (Bigelow 6, O’Dell 9, Jolley 1, Simon 7, Waldron 2, Sloan 1), WA 35 (Had. Ross 12, Bogemann 2, Garner 3, B. Larrison 2, Shaw 2, J. Larrison 8, Fewell 2, Hal. Ross 2, Fischer 2). Assists: GC 5 (Bigelow 2, O’Dell 1, Waldron 1, Sloan 1), WA 17 (Had. Ross 1, Bogemann 1, Garner 6, B. Larrison 5, Shaw 2, Fewell 1, Fischer 1). Steals: GC 8 (Bigelow 4, Simon 1, Waldron 3), WA 8 (Had. Ross 1, Bogemann 2, Garner 3, Shaw 1, J. Larrison 1). Blocks: GC 3 (Waldron 1, Carlson 1, Sloan 1), WA 3 (Bogemann 1, Shaw 1, B. Larrison 1). Total fouls: GC 12, WA 21. Fouled out: Shaw (WA). Turnovers: GC 20, WA 16.