Green Forest girls off to solid start

The Green Forest Lady Tigers extended their solid start to the 2025-26 basketball season with a pair of victories last week.

The Lady Tigers defeated Eureka Springs 70-41 on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at Highlander Arena, then rolled past Mount Judea 64-14 in the first round of the 69th Annual Anstaff Bank Holiday Tournament on Saturday, Dec. 6, at the Grim Gym.

The victories pushed the Lady Tigers’ record to 5-2 under coach Jarrett Clibrey, in his first season at Green Forest.

The Lady Tigers’ hot start has been fueled by the play of senior guard Kaylyn Smith, a transfer from Berryville who scored her 1,000th career point earlier this season. In its past two games, however, Green Forest has gotten plenty of offensive production from others, as well.

Junior Kinly Smith, Kaylyn’s younger sister, scored a team-high 20 points in the win at Eureka Springs. Kaylyn Smith added 17 points in that game, with sophomore Angelynn Janer chipping in 15. The Lady Tigers broke the game open by outscoring Eureka Springs 25-5 in the second quarter for a 23-point halftime cushion.

“Kinly has found her groove scoring the ball for us,” Clibrey said. “And Angelynn Janer has been shooting it really well.”

A big key to the Lady Tigers’ early success, Clibrey said, is their camaraderie off the court.

“They enjoy being together,” he said. “We do a lot of team stuff together. We went and played Topgolf as a team. They want to do a Christmas party as a team. Our togetherness with this team is really, really huge. And that’s a big thing that I emphasized when we got here. We’re going to be a family on and off the court.”

Green Forest will play Kingston in the semifinals of the holiday tournament at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11. The third-place and championship games will be played Saturday, Dec. 13.