2015 Tri-Lakes Edition All-Area Basketball Teams

Team-first attitude propels Baker to Tri-Lakes Edition individual honor

Raven Baker of the Malvern Lady Leopards had a highly successful high school career. She was a three-time member of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Team, a three-time all-state performer and a three-time all-state-tournament team member. She was also the Tri-Lakes Edition Girls Basketball Player to Watch for 2014-2015. With season averages of 27 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists per game, Baker is now the Tri-Lakes Edition Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
Raven Baker of the Malvern Lady Leopards had a highly successful high school career. She was a three-time member of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Team, a three-time all-state performer and a three-time all-state-tournament team member. She was also the Tri-Lakes Edition Girls Basketball Player to Watch for 2014-2015. With season averages of 27 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists per game, Baker is now the Tri-Lakes Edition Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

Raven Baker holds records for career 3-pointers, career steals and career points made at Malvern High School. She won back-to-back state championships with the team in her sophomore and junior seasons. She wanted a third. Her coach said she wants to win a championship every year, not just “15 or 20 games.”

On senior night, Baker had no idea that she was the holder of three school records. On that night, she was surprised by her stats.

“Really, I couldn’t believe it,” Baker said. “I really never pay attention to the numbers; I just pay attention to the wins. If I scored zero points and we won, I’d still be excited. I did something right.”

Off the court, Baker is a considerate and relaxed person. She isn’t shy but knows how to listen. She’s pleasant. But when she dons her No. 4 jersey and steps onto the court, she’s ruthless. Baker’s vision allows her to see the smallest crease in a defense, and her vicious athleticism allows her to attack with anger. When defenses sit back and dare her to attack, she can pull up and shoot from behind the arc. Baker shot 42 percent from 3-point land and 51 percent from the field.

“I think, after my father’s passing,” Baker said, “I took my anger out with basketball. That’s a part of my aggressiveness. I didn’t let my anger make a negative impact on my life. I focused on the positive, and basketball was the way.”

Her father, Anthony Baker, was a basketball standout from Brinkley. He was shot in a home invasion when his daughter was 12. Her mother played basketball in junior high, and Raven’s cousin, Cameron Butler, was a star player for Malvern High School before graduating in 2006. Butler played for South Arkansas University in 2006-07 and Southeast Missouri State University from 2009-11. He plans to play overseas. Raven Baker noted Butler’s positive influence as a training partner.

In 2012, 19-year-old Malvern graduate James King drowned in Lake Catherine. King was attending Southern Arkansas University, where he played wide receiver as a true freshman. Baker now wears King’s No. 4 as a show of respect for him. She takes pride in the community from which she hails.

Baker followed the lead of her immediate family when it came to basketball. She started playing at an early age and never looked back.

“The first time I picked up a ball, I was 3,” Baker said. “So my brother — he’s three years older than me — he played at the Boys & Girls Club. So I used to always go out there and just play around with them. I found myself really liking it.”

Although three years older, her brother frequently lost to his little sister.

“He was good,” Baker said. “I don’t think he took it as serious as I did. He was more into football, baseball.”

Coach Jess Martin inherited a Malvern girls program that was a shambles 10 years ago. He attributes his success to changing the work ethic and environment for the team. But he doesn’t claim all the credit for the turnaround and acknowledges the talent he’s had come through the program.

“She makes the job a lot easier,” Martin said of Baker. “Obviously, when you’ve got good players, you’ve got a good chance to win. But when you’ve got good kids and good talent, you’ve got a chance to win at a high level every year.”

Martin recalled a game against Ashdown on the road last year in which Baker was particularly dominant. With the game well in hand, Baker sat out the second half.

“I knew she was makin’ quite a few,” Martin said, “but they told me she got nine [3 pointers], and we were winning by such a big margin that it was hard not to put her back in in the second half. She could have gotten four or five more. But we don’t like to do that kind of thing. She knew her night was done.”

In that game, she went 9 for 10 from behind the arc. Baker’s dominance was no secret to opposing coaches. Last year, coaches were forced to make difficult decisions due to Baker’s name being on the opposing depth chart.

“A couple of people we played, they said, ‘It ought to be illegal to have a player like that.’ She’s just really hard to guard,” Martin said.

Baker signed with Chipola College, a junior college in Marianna, Florida, that just won its first national championship in girls basketball. The coaches looked at tape of Baker, then made the 10-hour trek to see her in Malvern. She visited the campus and decided to sign.

She hopes to compete for a national title next year at Chipola, but she has set lofty goals for herself in the basketball world as well.

“I plan on going to JUCO for one or two years and then transferring to a major four-year [university], then trying to get into the WNBA draft or going overseas.”

Staff writer Morgan Acuff can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or email macuff@arkansasonline.com.

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