Lady Hornet For Life: Leanda Willis Embodies The Oark Spirit

by Janice Penix

In a graduating class of just 11, Leanda Willis was one of only two who had been Oark Hornets since kindergarten.

And she credits Oark Schools for instilling in her the values and confidence she needed to spread her wings and fly, from her time on the basketball court to trips to track meets with her coaches and friends.

At Oark Schools, Willis participated in almost every activity that was available. She played basketball, ran track, was involved in FFA and even tried her hand at shooting sports and archery for a season.

In every area, Willis found a way to succeed and to enjoy the experiences she shared with the school community that became her extended family.

A Leader On The Court

She began playing basketball when she was in elementary school.

“I played all the way through, since first or second grade,” Willis said. “I did Girls Club for awhile, and starting in fourth grade we had a school team at Oark. I started playing because my siblings played, and we would play outside together. Once I started, I just didn’t stop.”

Willis said it felt natural to be on the court, especially when she was surrounded by a team of her friends.

“I picked it up easy for the most part,” she said. “What I liked the most was, especially the last few years in high school, we didn’t seem like a team, it was more like a family.”

The team members remained mostly the same from elementary school through senior high, Willis said.

“We played with the older group most of the time,” she said. “There were not as many kids our age, so we played with the grade above us. When they left, it was weird to be playing without them, and to be the older group.”

Willis was versatile, playing numerous positions for the Lady Hornets.

“I played everything,” she said. “I started as a guard, then went to forward. But the last year or two, I was the post player. I used to say I wanted to be a guard but this year, I told our coach to keep me in the low post.”

She was one of four seniors on the Oark team in the 2024-25 season and was considered a leader among the group.

“That was all the girls in our class,” Willis said, laughing. “There isn’t a whole lot to do at Oark, so everyone usually plays. I felt like a leader, I guess. They called me the team captain anyway. I think I was pretty good at pushing the team to be the best they could be.”

Coach Kipp Upton, who led the Oark basketball program during Willis’ junior and senior seasons, said she was a player the others respected.

“She was definitely a leader,” Upton said. “She can be vocal sometimes, and also led by example, by the way she practiced hard every day. The others followed her lead.”

Upton said Willis improved her skills before her senior season.

“She made a jump from her junior year to senior year,” he said. “All the work she put in, all the practice time really paid off for her. She played really hard on the basketball floor. She was our top defender the last two seasons and our top rebounder both seasons as well. She plays with a lot of energy and plays hard.

“Her defense and rebounding were always very solid. I knew if I needed to put someone on the other team’s best player, it was going to be her. And she knew that too.”

Individually, Willis said she worked hard to improve her free-throw shooting, while the team as a whole had to work to improve its ability to function cohesively.

“Our challenge was definitely teamwork, and finishing,” she said. “This year, we played really good for three quarters, and the last quarter we just didn’t hold it together and ended up losing a lot.

“We lost our best post player in our last summer practice, and that hit us pretty hard. We put up a good fight every game, but we’d get to the fourth quarter and some of us would be too tired to finish. I think we got through some of that better as the year went on.”

Her favorite memories from basketball were games against Oark rivals Mulberry and St. Paul.

“When we played Mulberry and St. Paul, those were our big rivals, so they were always good games,” Willis said. “We beat Mulberry once during the season and in the tournament once. It felt great to beat them in the tournament. Some of their girls we played against for years, even back when we were little. So it was good to get a win over them.”

A Winner On The Track

As basketball season came to a close, Willis reached for her running shoes…The full story appears in the June 25 edition of The Graphic, found online and in businesses throughout Johnson and Franklin counties.