Greenwood senior point guard Kylah Pearcy aims to claim her third state title

Kylah Pearcy has two state championship rings in her possession, and the Greenwood senior point guard wants to claim a third title before her Lady Bulldog career ends. Judging from her stats, she is working to get another ring.

Entering the final week of January, Pearcy was averaging exactly 30 points per game, with a season-high of 43 points against Class 6A school Fayetteville. A three-year starter, Pearcy has increased her scoring output with each season, going from approximately 17 points her sophomore season to at least 20 points as a junior.

Pearcy, who goes 5-foot-8, is also making 31% of her 3-point attempts and 46.5% of her baskets from inside the 3-point line. She also averages 4.8 steals, 7.3 deflections, 3.8 assists and 6.8 rebounds per contest.

“Individually, I started shooting the 3 a little bit more than I did my sophomore and junior year,” Pearcy said. “So that’s something I liked to see come along a little bit. I’m happy with the way I’m scoring and defensively, I’m happy with how I’m playing and everything.”

Her Lady Bulldogs are also putting things together after a rough start in which they played an extremely challenging schedule. Greenwood won four of its first five 5A-West contests, with the lone loss coming on the road to defending Class 5A champion Farmington.

“I think we’re working a lot better as a team than we did in non-conference,” Pearcy said. “Farmington was our only loss, and we are up at half, but I got in foul trouble and got pulled out of the game. … But I’ve been very happy with the way we’ve been playing in conference where we’ve battled.”

Along with being able to make more 3-pointers, Pearcy believes another reason her point production has drastically increased has been her ability to finish her attempts.

“My finishes are stronger,” Pearcy said. “I feel like my pull-up jumpers, like my 15-footers, has probably gotten a little bit better since previous years. I also think my motor has been running a lot more; its gotten better this year than it has been previously.”

She’s also made it a point to push her teammates, especially now that Pearcy is a senior. Pearcy won state her first two seasons at Greenwood under then-coach Clay Reeves. She is now in her second season playing for her current Lady Bulldog coach, Ryan Casalman.

There is also a connection between Pearcy and her current coach. Casalman coached her father, Dexter, during his junior high playing days, also in Greenwood. Kylah noted her father was a huge influence being a basketball player growing up.

“Our whole family likes basketball a lot, but dad’s definitely good at helping me understand that game,” said Pearcy, who has two younger brothers who also play basketball. “He’s really good with like X’s and O’s and stuff like that, and so it’s really easy to understand the game better whenever you’ve got somebody telling you how to play and everything.”

Pearcy will play close to home at the next level, as she has signed to play at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

“Coach (Ryan) McAdams, I went on a visit and to be honest, he’s upfront with what he thinks,” Pearcy said. “He’s kind of says how it is and I really like that a lot. I think he’s gonna push us to work hard and I really liked him.”

Pearcy, who has a grade-point average of 3.94, plans to major in psychology in hopes of becoming an occupational therapist. Before going up the road for college, Pearcy wants to cap her Greenwood career by getting that third title ring.

“Winning state, to be honest, that’s really the only goal right now I’m looking forward to the most and I think we definitely have a chance to do it if we work hard,” Pearcy said.