SEARCY — The 2014-15 basketball season for Riverview girls coach Ryan Smith was like a movie script.
The Lady Raiders finished 38-1 after moving up to Class 4A and won the state championship, beating Ozark, 65-43, in the state title game last month in Hot Springs. For his efforts, Smith is the Three Rivers Edition Basketball Coach of the Year.
“I don’t think you get into coaching and handling kids if you don’t want to play in a state championship,” Smith said. “When you get a team like this, it’s special. We haven’t gotten our rings yet. It’s almost like a movie with an awesome ending.
“A lot of coaches go their entire career and don’t get a ring. I’m very blessed.”
It was also a dream come true for the Lady Raiders.
“It was one of the best dreams I’ve ever had,” said Smith, who has been head coach at Riverview for five seasons. “We really didn’t have a bad game all year. The game we lost, we had a chance to win it. Those girls have been playing together for a while.”
Riverview’s core group of players includes juniors Eryka Johns, Kayla Young, Madison Riley and Alexis Baker. All of them played on the high school team as freshmen, Smith said.
In 2013, the Lady Raiders hosted the Class 3A state tournament but were knocked out in the first round. In 2014, Riverview lost to fellow conference member Harding Academy in the semifinals.
“I thought we were the best team in Class 3A last year,” Smith said. “We missed some free throws down the stretch; eStem and Harding, we beat them both twice last year. That is what hurts the most. It’s like it’s almost all forgotten about now because we had such a great year this year.”
Riverview’s lone loss came to Central Arkansas Christian on Jan. 30 at Searcy. The Lady Mustangs won 57-51. Riverview
beat CAC 50-38 on Dec. 12 atop Mustang Mountain in North Little Rock.
“At that point, we were 27-0,” Smith said of the Riverview record prior to the loss to CAC. “I’ve always heard that it might be good for you to lose. Some of the games going in, you know you’re going to win because your team is quite a bit better than the other club. You’d rather lose a conference game than one in the state tournament.”
The Lady Raiders received a first-round bye in the state tournament after winning the 4A-East Region Tournament at Trumann. They opened state-tournament action with a 78-56 win over two-time defending state champion Malvern. Riverview then beat Star City 69-54 in the state semifinals.
In the championship game against Ozark, the Lady Raiders led 27-24 at halftime before pulling away in the second half.
“There is always some apprehension because it’s the finals,” Smith said of his team being in a close game at halftime. “It was the first time we had been to the finals.
“We had 24 points in the fourth quarter.”
Prior to coming to Riverview, Smith had coaching stops at Pangburn, Sheridan and Beebe.
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or buffalo@arkansasonline.com.