One of the most successful eras for girls’ basketball at Reeves High School ended on Monday night as the team fell 68-54 to parish and district rival Fairview in the state semi-finals of the LHSAA Girls’ Marsh Madness.
“We lost to Fairview again like a lot of people have,” said head coach Mark Dronet. “I thought we really had good game play. We played them close. You can’t take away everything when you play Fairview because they’re a 5-out team and their tempo is so fast. So, we switched up our defense and played a little diamond and one tonight and left the corners open. Analytically, they were much better shooting from the top, and they didn’t really cooperate with the game plan. But, I thought we competed well.”
Hope Cauthton led Reeves with 18 points against Fairview, and Maddison Ford added 12.
Ford was part of a program that built a standard at Reeves over her six-year career. “It was a journey,” she said. “At first, we only won one game of the season. To have a foundation like we built, we get to look back and say we did that. It’s really a cool experience. I hate that it’s over. We couldn’t have done it without our amazing coach who believed in us every day and pushed us hard every day.”
Faith Cauthron was also a part of that foundation building team. “In our first summer ball games with Coach Dronet,” she said, “we scored three points in two games.”
A quiet piece to puzzle over her career was fellow senior Kyndal Gill. “She’s kind of the runt of the litter,” Dronet said. “She was kind of late in developing, but, from hanging around (Maddi and Faith), she turned into a pit bull and gave us some really big minutes and a lot of things that didn’t show up in the scorer’s column like hustle plays, energy, and big rebounds. Sometimes she had 10 rebounds in a game. She’s fearless.”
Gill said after the Fairview game, “I thought we fought really well.”
Reeves advanced to the semi-finals against Fairview after facing Midland in the quarterfinals. The Lady Raiders and Lady Rebels did the classic two-step of punch, counter-punch, survive and endure before Reeves guard Lailah Williams delivered the knock-out blow. She hit a game-winning three-pointer with under 10 seconds remaining to punch the Lady Raiders’ ticket to Hammond with a 44-41 win.
“The moment’s never too big for her,” Dronet said. “She’s got ice in her veins. She catches the ball and sees the rim and has one thing on her mind, shooting it. That was a huge shot.”
Williams’ game-winner came after the Lady Raiders allowed Midland back in the game despite holding a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter.
That’s when Midland showed its mettle, going on a 13-1 run to tie the game at 40 with 1:03 remaining in the contest.
Part of what turned the game was the fouling out of senior Reeves’ post player Faith Couthron, a player Dronet says is the best at her position in the state. Midland’s fourth quarter run was a combination of its physicality eating away at a Couthron-less Reeves core.
“It was probably a combination of (Midland) rising to the moment and us playing a little tight,” Dronet said. “But, losing Faith changes our entire team. Offensively and defensively, we don’t really have a plan B. Tonight, we had to go to plan C and fortunately we pulled it out at the end.”
Midland struggled through the middle quarters after a strong opening quarter where they frustrated Reeves and held a 13-8 advantage.
Reeves, however, endured that first quarter and found its offensive flow as Midland got the yips offensively. In the second and third quarters, Reeves outpaced Midland by a 23-7 margin to take what appeared to be a stronghold on the game.
Midland hit its lowest point in the third, where it managed just a single point.
Dronet went on to say after the Fairview game, “I’ve been truly blessed to coach these kids and be around them every day. We start every day with a hug and a high five. We’re really big on culture and being positive. But, we all knew this would end one day. The memories will never end. I’ll never forget these kids.”