Good Clardy for Conway
Wampus Cat junior a silent assassin during 28-2 season
Elite is how Conway girls basketball Coach Ashley Hutchcraft described Chloe Clardy not long after the junior dominated against the nation’s top junior player during a marquee matchup in November.
Elite was also one of the first adjectives that came out of Hutchcraft’s mouth when characterizing Clardy after she was named the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year earlier this month.
But Hutchcraft, who’s been Conway’s head coach since 2010, recently uttered a different modifier to portray her prized guard, one that may sum up Clardy perfectly.
“She’s unique,” Hutchcraft said. “You’ll think she’s having a bad game, but then you look up and see that she’s got 25. In a way, she’s kind of a silent killer because she doesn’t really change her expression.
“She may have 48 points, and you’d never know it if she had four. Now she’s gotten a little better at being demonstrative sometimes, but then again, it’s not really demonstrative when you don’t really change your expressions much.”
But for Clardy, who’s the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Preps Girls Player of the Year, that laid-back demeanor isn’t necessarily a poker-face imitation. It’s just the opposite.
The 5-9, junior has played in an easy-going manner ever since she became the first seventh-grader in Conway history to play junior high basketball. In a way, that relaxed fashion meshes because Clardy has a tendency to make things look easy on the court.
“I just try to go out and give my best each and every night,” said Clardy, who averaged 23 points, 7 rebounds, 3.4 steals and 2.6 assists to help the Lady Wampus Cats finish 28-2. “Honestly, I was more focused than ever this year because I had big goals and expectations. That obviously started with trying to win a state title, but I always try to be the best I can be regardless of the situation.”
That state championship didn’t materialize for Conway, but that didn’t take away from the year Clardy and her teammates had.
Conway spent the entire season ranked No. 1 in Arkansas until it was upset by Little Rock Central in the second round of the Class 6A state tournament. The Lady Wampus Cats also ended the year ranked No. 14 by ESPN — the first time any Conway team has finished in a national poll.
Clardy continued to turn heads, which is something Hutchcraft admitted she knew would happen.
“She works on her game, but you don’t really see much out there about her,” she explained. “You don’t see a highlights video from her or a trainer that’s training her. Chloe’s just Chloe, and her parents have done such a good job of kind of sheltering her from that atmosphere.
“It’s been a steady progression for her. She didn’t try to do too much too soon, like she didn’t want to get better, faster and stronger so quickly as a freshman. They’ve let her mature into her, and that’s one of the reasons why she’s continually improving.”
ESPN has Clardy rated as a four-star recruit and the No. 40 player in the Class of 2023. She had a number of huge games, including several against the stiffest of competition. The one that drew Clardy’s initial elite designation from Hutchcraft was especially eye opening because of the contest’s magnitude.
Conway took on Parkway, La., which was led by Mikayla Williams, a 6-0 forward who’s regarded as the country’s No. 1 junior by ESPN. Williams did have 24 points and 12 rebounds, but it was Clardy’s 38-point, 10-steal, 6-rebound and 4-assist performance that overshadowed anything else that day.
She continued to overwhelm opposing teams when 6A-Central Conference play began despite a target on her team’s backs.
“Every game was gonna be a challenge because everyone wants to beat Conway,” she said. “Anything teams can do to beat Conway, they’re gonna do it, and we knew that. So every game and every practice, we approached it like we were the best team in Arkansas because everybody wants to beat the best team in Arkansas.
“That’s just how we looked at it. We had some really good games, had some bad games. And of course, we came up short in the end, and that was tough to deal with.”
Chances are that Conway will be tough to deal with next season. With the bulk of the team returning, the Lady Wampus Cats will again be the odds-on favorite in the preseason to win a state title. And a motivated Clardy, one that’s already garnered an elite reputation, may be a frightening site for future opponents, even if they can’t tell by the way she carries herself.
“Last season didn’t end like we wanted it to, and that’s going to be on our backs the whole year,” Clardy said. “We know how good we can be, but we’ve got to come back and prove it. No one is going to hand us anything.
“So our expectations are to come back better than we were and try to get a state title.”