Christyn Williams
SENIOR / CENTRAL ARKANSAS CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL
FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
For the better part of the past decade, University of Connecticut women’s basketball has been a dominant force at the college level. So for Christyn Williams, the original plan was to go to a school that could beat UConn, a program she considered the top school in the nation. But once UConn started recruiting Williams, she had no choice but to be a Lady Husky. “When they started recruiting me, I started to understand why they were so great and why they were winning,” Williams said, “and I fell in love with the program. They just pull you in, and there is no coming back from it.” Williams, a senior at Central Arkansas Christian High School, is the 2018 AllArkansas Preps Overall Female Athlete of the Year and the 2018 All-Arkansas Preps Outstanding Girls Basketball Player of the Year. She finished her senior season with an average of 26.8 points, 10.4 rebounds and almost 3 assists per game. “Being Player of the Year is always a great thing to be,” Williams said. “I have just worked so hard, so to see my hard work paying off is amazing.” Williams said it is such an honor to receive the award. Initially, she said, she thought she was just being named the Girls Basketball Player of the Year, but when she found out she was also the Overall Female Athlete of the Year, it was surprising. “I have worked hard, and I am really excited to get this award,” she said. “It is pretty cool. I have been playing basketball since I was 3, but I didn’t even know these awards were a thing.” She said it basically “just came out of nowhere,” and she is just super grateful. CAC head coach Steve Quattlebaum said Williams has always been highly motivated, even when she was in the sixth grade. “When she got her first offer from Arkansas, that motivated her even more,” he said. “The more attention she received, the more motivated she became. Nobody will really understand how hard she has worked for the opportunity that she has.” Williams led CAC to the 4A state championship and was named the tournament’s most valuable player. She also received the Naismith Award on March 9. An award given to the top girls high school basketball player in the country. Williams is currently in summer session at UConn, and said she is adjusting to college life pretty well, although it has been challenging. “I feel like it is going to be a good season, so I am pretty excited about it,” Williams said. “The upperclassmen have been great mentors.” She said one of the biggest challenges has been adjusting to the workouts.
I HAVE JUST WORKED SO HARD, so to see my hard work paying off is amazing.” — Christyn Williams, ALL-ARKANSAS PREPS FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
She said she is definitely not used to getting up at 5 a.m. “Everything is different, but yes, the intensity is a lot different,” Williams said. “I have never lifted before, and the conditioning is different.” She said the team is getting up in the morning and going to the football field to condition — sometimes in the rain. “The workouts are a lot different then they were in high school,” she said. “And this is UConn, so it is the best of the best.” The ultimate goal for Williams is to get stronger and be quicker and just be a better all-around player, physically. She said she feels like she has an opportunity to play this winter when the season starts, especially since two guards graduated in the spring. Williams spent last summer representing the United States in the FIBA 3-on-3 Under-18 World Championship in China, so she is used to being far from home. “I am accommodating pretty well,” she said. She said defeating Riverview High School in the finals is one of her favorite memories. It was the school’s first state championship since 2007. “They had beaten us in the state championship my sophomore year,” Williams said, “so to finish my senior year with a win was a great feeling.” She scored 42 points — including 19 in the third quarter — in the state-championship game. She
played her final high school game in front of her future college coach, Geno Auriemma. He sat on the baseline near the bench. Quattlebaum said he believes that as a coach, he will never see a player like Williams again. “It has been an enjoyable six years,” he said. “It has been fun watching her progress.” Williams, who finished second in career points in Arkansas history, said she has grown up playing sports. She has played volleyball and softball and even took golf lessons. But she said basketball has always been the sport she has loved the most. Eventually, Williams wants to play in the WNBA, and she said going to UConn will help her achieve that goal. “UConn has had players who are great in the WNBA, so I just want to follow in their footsteps and make a legacy,” she said. “That is four years of preparation for the rest of my life.” Right now, Williams plans on studying mass communication and business. Her longterm goal is to become a sports broadcaster. “When I retire from sports, I want to stay in sports, and I feel like I have the personality for it,” she said, “so that would be the perfect job.”