MULVANE — When the game clock hit zeros and the Ark City High School girls basketball team defeated Rose Hill 31-20 for its first Mulvane Wildcat Classic tournament championship win in school history Saturday afternoon, the victorious Bulldogs shook the hands of Rockets players and coaches — then immediately left the court and headed to the locker room.
Assistant ACHS coaches Chad Hopkins and Josie Messenger had to run after them to bring the Bulldogs back to the court for the tournament awards ceremony, which along with the the team hardware, featured juniors Saliyah Henderson-Johnson and Savannah Phillips as all-tournament selections.
Phillips, who opened tourney play with 33 points in the Bulldogs’ 50-21 win against Campus, was the tournament MVP — another first for ACHS.
Now at 6-6 and winners of three in a row — including four of its last five — there’s a lot of new territory the Ark City girls basketball program is exploring.
Before this season, the Bulldogs notched six wins combined over the past three years and hadn’t won more than 10 games since the 2006-07 season 17 years ago when Ark City finished 11-11, according to maxpreps.com.
Since then, the program has averaged just three wins per season with two winless years and two one-win seasons.
But after the 44th Mulvane Wildcat Classic, there’s a sense of belief and confidence Ark City High School girls basketball hasn’t felt in a very long time.
“I’m just super proud of the girls,” Ark City Head Coach Tyler Henderson said after the win Saturday. “What they’ve done today is very special for Ark City girls basketball. First time in history we’ve won this tournament in what looks like almost 30 years of being here, and that’s just special. History was made. They’re turning this program around and taking it to a place it’s not been in a long time. Heck, the last time we had 5-plus wins was seven, eight years ago.
“Just a special group and I’m proud to be their coach.”
Phillips told Cowley Post after the game she was honored to be the first Ark City girls basketball player to be selected as Mulvane’s tournament MVP, but was more excited about the big picture.
“That’s actually really cool, but I’m glad that we all got the team win and we did it together,” she said. “It felt really good to actually be able to that since Ark City (girls basketball) hasn’t won anything in a very long time.”
Henderson, in his second season as ACHS head coach, said Phillips brings a lot to the table for the Bulldogs.
“Special player,” he said. “I tell her all the time, ‘You have no idea how special of a player you are. You’re 6’1”, you can guard inside on defense, you can defend on the perimeter, you can score inside and you have the skillset to score outside.’
“I tell her all the time, ‘You’re such a versatile player and with the size that you have you can do so many different things out there.’ That’s special.”
Phillips is a part of a special junior class for the Ark City girls basketball team.
Henderson’s daughter, Saliyah, who had 19 points in Friday night’s win against tournament host Mulvane, can slice inside, strike from beyond the arc and pick the pocket of ball handlers on the other end of the floor while Kierslynn Waggoner is also a confident shooter and an additional threat from the perimeter.
Along with Brylee Thompson, who has been out this season due to injury, the Bulldogs junior class began their high school careers used to not just winning, but dominating.
They destroyed opponents in middle school with back-to-back Patriot League championships.
While flashes of success were evident as freshmen and sophomores with six combined wins after the Bulldogs went 0-21 before their arrival, playing at the high school level — in the Ark Valley Chisholm Trail Div. II especially — still proved humbling.
Ark City just missed qualifying for substate last season, but there’s not much anxiety about that this time around heading into February and the Bulldogs are four wins away from their preseason goal of at least 10 victories with eight games left on the regular season schedule.
“That core, that junior class, man, they play so well together, they got such a great bond, great chemistry, they’re coachable, they love the game — pretty much students of the game,” Henderson said. “When you can have a group like that, man, you’re a really lucky coach. On top of that they’re talented.
“I’m just blessed. They work at it and they’re basketball kids. It’s a special group there.”
Phillips said the approach going forward hasn’t changed.
“We’re just working,” she said. “We’re trying to work as a team and to keep on going.”
While the Bulldogs also benefit from the senior experience of Ella Badley, who saw her older sister Emma start and play for Ark City throughout her high school career, the Bulldogs have also felt the boost of sophomores Espyn Chaney, Haylea Sampson and Lakyn Hale along with junior Lanie Arnett and freshman Ava Headrick.
Terriah Morris, the team’s only other senior, has seen action late in games while sophomores Ashlee Broce and Tyliccia Morris round out the 2023-24 roster.
Henderson said after beating Rose Hill for the tournament title Saturday, he made sure his team understood what it meant for the program moving forward.
“I told them, ‘Starting today, keep putting Ark City girls basketball on the map,"” he said. “We’re no longer a joke. No longer a laughing stock. Keep putting it on the map, and this is a great way to do that.”
