Past meets present: Clinton's historic 1998-99 girls basketball team to be honored

By Kyle Sutherland 

CLINTON – The nostalgia will be thick Tuesday night in Yellowjacket Arena and a couple of family ties will make the night even more memorable.

Twenty-four years ago, a Lady Yellowjackets girls basketball team achieved success that had not been eclipsed since winning the program’s lone state championship in 1983. Now adults, many members of that team will be honored in a Tuesday pregame ceremony as Clinton meets Pulaski Academy in a league showdown.

The 1998-99 Lady Yellowjackets squad is second in single-season victories in school history with 28. They won the 2AAA conference title, district championship, and were runners-up in the regional tournament, and earned a trip to the state tournament - the first appearance since winning the state title 16 years earlier.

Then-head coach Ricky Cooper, who was in his 5th of 21 seasons at Clinton, is looking forward to visiting with many of his former players that he has not seen in years.

“They were just a really good group of girls who were successful all the way through,” Cooper said. “That was one of my better groups.”

For two former players in particular, the night will be extra special as they will not only be honored but will cheer on their daughters as their team looks to continue embarking on another historic run of its own. 

Brooke Eoff Keith and Lacey Newland Standridge were juniors on the 1998-99 team and driving forces behind the success. Standridge was second on the team in points (10.8) and rebounds (5.4) per game, while Keith led the squad in steals with three a game, along with scoring 7.5 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest.

Last year’s Clinton team set the new school record for wins with 31 and won the 3A-2 conference, as well as the district and regional championships before falling in the semifinals of the state tournament to eventual champion Bergman.

Their daughters - Sydney Standridge and Kinley Keith - were juniors who started and now are senior leaders with lofty goals. Standridge is coming off an all-conference junior campaign, while Keith was named the 3A-2 Defender of the Year a season ago.

Lacey Standridge missed the first part of the 1998-99 season due to completing the final stages of recovery from a torn ACL but went on to have a successful high school career before signing to play at Central Arkansas.

“It is way more fun now than when I actually played,” Lacey Standridge said. “It is exciting they are thinking of us, but I have also enjoyed watching my own and her friends out there doing what they love.”

For Brooke Keith, the mix of excitement and nerves she thought she once felt as a player are nothing compared to the anxiety she feels watching her daughter compete.

“I do not ever remember getting nervous when we played, but I really do when the girls have a big game,” she said. “It is life-changing to watch them play versus me playing.”

Lacey Standridge added that all of the senior basketball moms keep each other’s morale high via a group text.

Many of the girls, including Sydney Standridge and Kinley Keith, on this year’s Clinton squad have played together since elementary school as well as other outside leagues.

The Lady 'Jackets bumped up from Class 3A to 4A this season, but, as expected, the goal remains the same to continue building on last year’s historic success and ultimately make it to Hot Springs and play for a state championship.

Current head coach Matt Post is his third year at Clinton and gives a lot of credit to the standard that the 1998-99 team brought back to the program. Though he may not have been around to see the standard that was set then, Post has noticed multiple similarities between that squad and his own in the present.

“It is cool having kids that their parents were on that team because they have a lot of the same work ethic that their parents have,” Post said. “Kinley, Sydney, and many others in that senior class are always in the gym. If I drive by on a Saturday, Sunday, or late at night usually one of their cars are there. I think a lot of the work ethic from that ‘98-99 team and applied it to both last and this year’s team.”

Having been able to witness both coaches at work, Lacey Standridge and Brooke Eoff see many similarities between Cooper - the winningest girls basketball coach in Clinton history - who was hired there when they were seventh graders, as well as Post who has mentored their daughters since they were sophomores.

“Their dedication,” Brooke Keith said without skipping a beat. “Sometimes it feels like a ton as far as practices and being there early, giving up summer and Christmas breaks. But their dedication to us and the team when they did not have to be on their time off always investing in us and the girls.”

Lacey Standridge added that both coaches do a superb job of knowing how to be one way on the court and another off it.

“They are both really balanced as far as the respect for the team as a whole,” she said. “I don’t remember Coach Cooper putting a certain player on a platform, it was always about the team and Coach Post is the same way, always encouraging the best player and even the bench. They are just both winners.”

Small-town pride for its athletic programs is something you see in many different places and Clinton is among the best. A great example of that was during last year’s state tournament when a caravan of school buses chauffeured town residents on the short, one-hour trip northwest to Valley Springs to show their undying support.

“School got out early, and they took eight buses with not just students but members of the community,” Kinley Keith said. “It was really great to see all of them come up and support us.”

The Clinton Booster Club also covered paid for every CHS student to enter the state tournament.

“I remember in the first round of the state tournament and 20 minutes before the game we were shooting around,” Sydney Standridge said. “There were so many kids who walked in, and the entire gym just stopped, it was so awesome.”

Many teams have come and gone since Brooke Keith and Lacey Standridge played, but with both still residing in Clinton they continue to feel the love from the community as well.

“Lacey and I can tell you now that we’re 40-plus, and we can still walk into Wal-Mart and see people who have watched us since we were little who are now watching our daughters and hear them tell stories or tell us how excited they are to watch our girls play,” Brooke Keith said. “I feel that it is a legacy we have passed down that I hope continues further down as we have grandkids as well as the Clinton community.”

One of the other premier players on the 1998-99 squad was senior Allison Bridges Scroggins, who led the Lady Jackets in points (15.2) and rebounds (9.4). She later played at Lyon College and her son, Gus, is currently a sophomore on the Clinton boys basketball team.

Other notable players were senior Jamie Linch who averaged 10.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game along with junior Sarah Ragland who led the team in assists per game (3.2).

Once Tuesday evening’s ceremonies conclude, Lacey Standridge and Brooke Eoff will walk back up to their seats - which are the same spots for each game - to watch their daughters and other teammates continue on the path to win the program’s first state title in 40 years.

Coming into Tuesday’s game with Pulaski Academy the Lady ‘Jackets (18-6, 9-0) currently sit atop the 4A-5 standings, one game ahead of Heber Springs.

Along with Kinley Keith and Sydney Standridge, Clinton has classmates Reese McDonald, one of the top guards in Class 4A who is on her way to another all-state season and Katie McJunkins, who was named honorable mention all-conference last year, and returned in December from a torn ACL, as two of its additional top contributors in the senior class.

In order to prepare for the bump in classification, Clinton scheduled tough in non-conference play, which is where they suffered all six losses, five of those to schools in larger classes.

“I think one of the challenges from last year was finding ways to stay hungry,” Post said. “This team has had some adversity. We have had some injuries, some roles have had to change but no one has ever complained about it. Some of those roles are bigger, some are smaller, but they have worked together to achieve success.”

In each year of this senior class’ seasons there have been team mottos: 

Sophomore year was ‘Rock or Sand’, Junior year was ‘Burn The Boat’, and this season is ‘Finish The Race’.

Coincidentally, another record that was broken is the 68 career wins compiled by Brooke Keith and Lacey Standridge’s 2000 class, which the 2023 girls surpassed in last Saturday’s victory over Lonoke.

Ultimately, Kinley Keith and Sydney Standridge are taking this season one game at a time. They are soaking in each moment as they will soon close out their decorated careers as second-generation Lady Jacket basketball players.

“All of the work we have put in is finally paying off,” Kinley Keith said. “Getting up for 6:30 (a.m.) practices, going to these tournaments over break, we were not doing those for nothing, and it is working towards something big.”

Sydney Standridge feels that with everything her mom was a part of accomplishing, as well as what she has done individually alongside her teammates, has really come full circle.

“The majority of our high school lives have been dedicated to playing basketball,” she said. “We are involved in clubs and other stuff, but this is the thing we have really harped on. At the end when it is over, just knowing that we gave it all we had is going to be really sentimental.

“I hope that at the end of the season we are happy because we won a state championship, but it might not happen and if it does not we will be okay. We are still going to be happy with all we did.”

For Cooper, it is a proud time for him seeing the program reaching levels of success that he was able to experience first-hand. His gratitude is evident for the entire ‘98-99 squad for all they did for the basketball program, as well as the community, almost a quarter century ago.

“They came to work every day and played hard,” he said. “I think all of them - the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth graders - they set the tone for my whole time there.”