2015 RIVER VALLEY & OZARK EDITION ALL-AREA basketball TEAMs

Razorback signee Danberry is area’s Player of the Year

Conway’s Jordan Danberry brings the ball up the court against Fayetteville during the Class 7A state championship game last month. Danberry is the River Valley & Ozark Edition Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
Conway’s Jordan Danberry brings the ball up the court against Fayetteville during the Class 7A state championship game last month. Danberry is the River Valley & Ozark Edition Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

CONWAY — One of the first calls Jimmy Dykes made after being named women’s basketball coach at the University of Arkansas last year was to Conway’s Jordan Danberry.

Danberry, who had led the Lady Wampus Cats to the Class 7A state championship in 2014 and was named MVP of that state-tournament run, listened. She became an early commitment and signed with the Razorbacks in November.

“I really didn’t know too much about Coach Dykes, but I know the first day he got the job he called to recruit me,” she said. “That made a big impression on me.”

She said she hadn’t really been looking at Arkansas prior to Dykes’ move from ESPN, but afterward, she narrowed her choice to Arkansas and Oklahoma State.

“It all came down to how well I jelled with the team and how well I liked the coaches,” she said. “That’s who I’ll spend the majority of my time around. I really liked Coach Dykes, and the players were more like me. And it’s closer to home.”

She made up her mind over the summer after watching a Razorback practice but took her time making her commitment official to Dykes. But since then, she’s been whole-Hog.

Her decision made, Danberry then returned her attention to the Lady Cats. She led them back to the state championship game, although they lost this one to Fayetteville, 80-65.

But individual honors rolled in. Among those, she repeated as Gatorade Player of the Year in Arkansas, was named Player of the Year at the McDonald’s Full-Court Awards and the inaugural Arkansas Basketball Coaches Association awards banquet and was chosen to receive the Marvin Delph Award for Sportswoman of the Year by the Conway Athletic Awards Commission.

And now she’s the River Valley & Ozarks Edition Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

“I feel extremely blessed,” Danberry said. “I’m so appreciative of all the awards. There’s a lot of talent in Arkansas, and I’m just honored to be named.”

A 5-foot-8 point guard, Danberry averaged 14.5 points, seven rebounds, five assists and 3.5 steals per game as a senior. She made 46 percent of her shots from the 3-point range.

“Over the past three years, Jordan has played a significant role in making Conway girls basketball successful,” Lady Cat coach Ashley Nance said. “She has led our team to two state finals appearances, and that would not have been possible without her leadership on and off the floor.

“If I had to pick one thing I am most proud of Jordan about, it is her ability to improve her game each year. She will do great things at the University of Arkansas, and I know Coach Dykes looks forward to getting her on campus this summer.”

Danberry grew up in Conway, the daughter of Angela Cleveland (who played basketball and ran track for the Lady Cats) and Oland Danberry.

Jordan Danberry grew up playing basketball, first at Sallie Conway Elementary School, then in the Upward program and at the Boys and Girls Club. She played for Carl Stuart Middle School and Conway White, where the junior high team went undefeated for three years.

But during her sophomore season, Conway failed to reach the state tournament.

“That made us really hungry for a state championship to prove we were the best,” she said.

In 2014, the Lady Cats struggled early but got in gear when they faced Fort Smith Northside in the Conway team’s second meeting of the season.

“That was the turning point,” Danberry said. “We knew then when we beat the defending state champs, we could beat anybody.”

The Lady Cats went on a winning streak, and Nance said Danberry was the catalyst.

“That was by far her best part of the season,” the coach said. “She led us, and we were needing someone to be a leader on the court.”

This season, roles were reversed, and the Lady Cats were the hunted. Danberry agreed there was much greater pressure this time around.

“It was hard,” she said. “We had a lot of injuries. I was trying to tell everybody we have to step up; there’s a target on our backs. It doesn’t matter if we’re playing a team that’s lost every game; they want us. We can’t slack off.”

Although the Lady Cats lost twice to Greenwood in 7A/6A-Central play to finish runner-up in the conference, they were the top seed from the Central for the Class 7A state tournament. Conway rolled over Springdale Har-Ber, 91-63, in the quarterfinals and escaped North Little Rock in the semis, 71-64.

“We always pick it up a notch when we hit the playoffs,” Danberry said. “That first game reminded us of how we did in December, all jelling together. We looked like our old normal team. I think our mentality changed a little bit.

“But I don’t know what happened in the championship game. We didn’t play as well.”

Despite the loss, Danberry is sure she and her teammates have set the bar high for future Lady Cats.

“We’ve done a great job for the younger girls who look up to us, the eighth- and ninth-graders and the fourth- and fifth-graders,” she said. “I feel like we showed them that we can do something in Conway.”

She’ll graduate May 17 with a 3.3 overall grade-point average, following a 4.0 semester last fall. She plans to major in business at the U of A.

And there’s one final basketball game in her hometown, when she’ll join her fellow Arkansas signees Bailey Zimmerman of Wonderview and Malika Monk of North Little Rock in the Arkansas High School All-Star Game at the University of Central Arkansas in June. She’ll head to Fayetteville a few days later.

“I just want to have fun with all the players I’ve played with and been knowing for a long time through [the Amateur Athletic Union] and high school,” she said.

After that, the sky’s the limit.

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