GREENLAND — Greenland girls basketball coach Alan Barton has a nickname for Anna Rogers, his starting point guard and a player he has formed a close relation- ship with over the past few years.
Barton calls her “Anna Banana,” but his story behind the nickname goes beyond the fact that it rhymes with her name. As he joked, Rogers drives him crazy — or “bananas” — at times.
“She’s slippery, and she just trips me everywhere I go,” Barton said, smiling.
Rogers has such a tight bond with Barton that she has the freedom to speak up if she disagrees with him. However, since taking over as Greenland’s point guard, she has done more listening and accepted that she’ll get the brunt of Barton’s wrath if things aren’t going well for the Lady Pirates.
“I’ve really had to step up this year as opposed to last year, but it’s more of what I like to do,” said Rogers, who was named last year’s NWA Media Small School Newcomer of the Year. “I like to be in control of things and I like to lead, but it’s definitely been different.”
Rogers has gone from the Sixth Man on last year’s Class 3A state championship team to an attacking point guard who’s running the show this season for Greenland. She helped lead the Lady Pirates (13-13) to a 3A-1 West District championship last week, and the basketball will be in her hands as they look to make another deep postseason run.
Barton said Rogers is aver- aging 16 points, four assists and “too many turnovers” per game heading into today’s 4 p.m. game against Danville in the opening round of the Class 3A Region 1 Tournament in Paris. But he has noticed a difference in his point guard’s play since he had a “moment” with her during a recent game against Elkins.
Barton said he was upset, and during a break in the game he told Rogers that Greenland’s season wouldn’t last much longer if she didn’t try to get her teammates more involved in the offense. The next day, she began relying on her teammates more in practice.
“Earlier she was just wanting to go and take off and try to get her points. She’s not worrying about that right now,” Barton said. “She’s worried about, ‘OK, if it’s there, great. If not, pull it back up and bring my team in.’ We’ve got some great players.”
Greenland has played less than a dozen games with its full corps of key players because of injuries and other issues. But sopho- more Kiana Thompson has developed a good dynamic with Rogers, and Mackenzie Brown, Jenny Riggles and Morgan Miller have shown they can provide scoring along the perimeter.
“I feel like it’s my responsibility as a leader to get our girls going, but it’s not just my team,” Rogers said. “We’re all a team together. It’s not the first three, the top three, the starting five. It’s all of us.”
Of course, she’s the top banana.