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CAC senior honored as top girls player

Central Arkansas Christian senior Christyn Williams drives to the basket during a game this season. Williams, who has signed with the University of Connecticut, is the 2017-18 River Valley & Ozark Edition Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
Central Arkansas Christian senior Christyn Williams drives to the basket during a game this season. Williams, who has signed with the University of Connecticut, is the 2017-18 River Valley & Ozark Edition Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

One by one, Central Arkansas Christian’s Christyn Williams checked off every one of her lofty goals — and even a few she didn’t know about.

The list of honors for the Lady Mustang senior, who signed with Connecticut in November and led CAC to the Class 4A state championship in March, is long and growing:

• MVP of the McDonald’s All-American Game.

• Women’s Basketball Coaches Association High School Player of the Year.

• Naismith High School Player of the Year.

• First three-time Gatorade Arkansas Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

• Finalist for Gatorade Female High School Athlete of the Year award.

• Morgan Wootten Player of the Year.

• MaxPreps National Player of the Year.

• Arkansas Basketball Coaches Association Top 5 Class 4A Girls Team.

• Member of USA Basketball Women’s U19 National Team, which won a silver medal in the FIBA World Championships in Italy.

• Member of Team USA, which won gold in the FIBA Women’s 3x3 U18 World Cup in China.

• Member of Team USA, which took bronze in the U17 World Cup in Spain.

• Chosen to play in the Jordan Brand Classic.

• Ranked the nation’s No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2018 by espnW.

• MVP of the Class 4A State Tournament.

• Four-time all-state honoree.

Williams, the 5-11 ambidextrous guard, won’t turn 18 until May.

After averaging 26.8 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.3 blocks per game and leading CAC to the best season in school history — 36-1 — Williams is the River Valley & Ozark Edition Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

“It’s always fun getting new awards,” she said.

Williams averaged 39 points in three state-tournament games this season. In the final, she recorded 42 points, 11 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks and 1 assist.

In the press conference following CAC’s 68-57 win over Riverview in the Class 4A State Tournament at Hot Springs’ Bank of the Ozarks Arena, Williams said, the team title was “up there” on her list of accomplishments, mainly because of classmates Jenna Davis, Kelson Miller and Alexa Mashburn.

“We’re all best friends, and we love each other so much,” Williams said.

The feeling is mutual.

Williams, Davis and Miller have played basketball together since they were third-graders. Mashburn joined them two years later. Williams included her classmates in November in the announcement that she would sign with UConn. Davis, Miller and Mashburn led a husky — the Connecticut mascot — onto Coach Q Court at Mustang Mountain to announce her choice.

“Before all the publicity and fans, before basketball was such a big deal to her, Christyn was just one of our best friends,” Davis said. “Over the years, we’ve gotten to see her not only grow as a player but as a person, and it’s incredible how she’s kept her sweet, humble, goofy personality.

“Since we’ve known each other so long, we have a lot of trust in each other, both on and off the court, but this season something just clicked. She wanted the championship more than anyone in our classification, and nothing was going to stop her. It’s a blessing to play with someone so determined, reliable and consistent.”

Mashburn added: “She has been a blessing to our team and a blessing to us because no matter how great she gets, she always loves us and stays as humble as when we first met her.”

Miller said: “She has been a constant friend in our lives and has always been supportive of us in anything we do. She has always been Christyn, even with all of her amazing accomplishments.

“Winning state was so much more than just winning a ring because it’s what we’ve worked for, and we all got to accomplish it together in our last game together.”

It had been 11 years since CAC coach Steve Quattlebaum led the Lady Mustangs to their third consecutive state title. It was appropriate that Williams and her classmates were the ones to put CAC back on top.

“It took a special group of kids to get us back all the way, and the way they did it is kind of special,” he said. “They’re such a close group. And they were probably one of the easiest teams I’ve ever had to coach. They really are great kids, and they get along so well, and they all have great leadership abilities.

“As a group, I’m not sure we’ve ever had that.”

Quattlebaum moved all four up to the varsity as freshmen. During their four years, the Lady Mustangs went 117-22 — an .841 winning percentage — with state quarterfinal finishes in 2015 and ’17 and a runner-up finish in ’16.

Riverview coach Ryan Smith, whose Lady Raiders fell five times to CAC this season, raved about Williams after the championship game.

“She’s by far the best player I’ve coached against,” he said. “I don’t know that I’ll ever coach a girl that good. That’s why she’s going to Connecticut.”

But until then, Williams is basking in the afterglow of accomplished goals.

Winning the state championship had been on her list for years, she said.

“It’s something that I’d written down a while ago, and I failed at it once before, so for me to actually achieve it makes it that much better,” she said.

She agreed her career had been “an amazing ride.”

“As a freshman, I didn’t realize I was going to do all this,” she said. “I just loved the game of basketball and continued to work hard at it, and things happened. I’m super grateful for the God-given ability.”

She’ll be favored to make Team USA again this summer with tryouts in late May, with the international competition to follow in July.

Williams will then head to Storrs, Connecticut, on Memorial Day weekend to join her new teammates and start a five-week summer-school session. The 11-time national champion Huskies have been upset in the national semifinals the past two years, so it’s a cinch that a national championship will be added to her list of goals.

With the roll she’s been on in 2018, don’t bet against her.

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