CHLOE CLARDY makes impact as a freshman at Conway.
The notion that a freshman can’t lead a varsity team in a sport typically dominated by upperclassmen isn’t unprecedented, but it isn’t necessarily ideal.
Try telling that to the Conway Lady Wampus Cats.
“We lost eight seniors from last year, so we weren’t really sure how things were going to play out for us,” Conway Coach Ashley Hutchcraft said. “We did have some seniors coming back, but we knew we’d be a pretty young team overall and we knew we’d have to rely on those underclassmen quite a bit if we were going to be successful. What we didn’t know was how they’d respond.”
Chloe Clardy quickly provided Hutchcraft and her staff with an answer. The ninth-grader scored a gamehigh 16 points in her first high school game, and she didn’t slow down until the final buzzer sounded on Conway’s season in the Class 6A state semifinals.
“Needless to say, she’s a special player,” Hutchcraft said of Clardy, the Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Preps Girls Underclassman of the Year. “With all the injuries we had, she just really stepped up and rose to the occasion. Just through adversity alone, I saw just how special she was going be.”
Clardy was thrust into the spotlight for the Lady Wampus Cats because of unfortunate circumstances, but she flourished in spite of them. The freshman, who has already received scholarship offers from Division I programs such as Mississippi and Tulsa, averaged 22.8 points per game and eventually broke the team’s single-season scoring record with 685 points. Her impact was a breath of fresh air for Conway, which nearly had its season derailed because of injuries, but Clardy insisted that moving to the forefront for the Lady Wampus Cats was something she was ready for.
“I’ve always looked up to that moment since I was little when I use to watch the Lady Cats play,” said Clardy, who is ranked by ESPN as the No. 4 guard in the nation for the Class of 2023. “I knew how hard they played. During the offseason, we all knew we had to work hard. People were underrating us anyway because we were young. But we wanted to prove everybody wrong.”
Hutchcraft said some may have questioned Clardy’s ability to become a difference-maker at a young age.
“I do think there were some doubters early, or outsiders that saw the situation and may have tried to create doubt in her teammates’ minds,” she said. “That happened a little when we moved Jaiden [Thomas] up last year as a ninth-grader, as well as Savannah [Scott] this year. Just things like, ‘You’re too young.’ But after about one week into practice, she won all of her teammates over.
“She has the ability to dominate in just about every area. Our seniors like T’yauna [Rector], Lydia [York], Jada [Pickens], they just fell in line like, ‘OK, here we go. Let’s do this.’ ”
The Lady Wampus Cats got off to a blazing start but was faced with adversity in January. Conway lost Thomas, its second-leading scorer at the time, for the year after she was hurt during the closing moments of a victory over Marion on Jan. 3. They also played without Pickens and Scott, a freshman center, for lengthy periods because of injuries. Those situations forced the Lady Wampus Cats to rely more on Clardy, who repeatedly answered with big games.
“When Jaiden went out, I knew I had to step up to make sure I was doing whatever Coach needed from me,” Clardy said. “I know she expected a lot out of me, so I made sure I worked harder. More injuries came and mentally, I knew I had to keep stepping up no matter what.”
Clardy said the transition from junior high to high school wasn’t always a smooth one. She admitted she had to adjust to both the speed of the game and the strength of older opposing players. But once she was able to adapt, things got easier.
“She was the most vocal person in practice, but you wouldn’t know it by watching her play because her expressions never change,” Hutchcraft said. “Naturally, her strength and quickness will come with her body developing more. But to do what she was able to do as a freshman was remarkable, and she’s only going to get better.”