While the big schools fell by the wayside in the annual winnowing down process known as the Louisiana High School Basketball Playoffs, a pair of small town schools did the Lake Area proud and deserve to be recognized.
First there is Fairview, which once again proved to be the class of the Ladies Top 28 in Class B, taking home their 5th straight title in convincing fashion over Hathaway in Hammond this past weekend. Head Coach Kyle Jinks has had many great teams across the last decade, however even he will admit this year's crop was special.
Taylor Maricle and Brittany Maddox led an attack that suffocated the Hornets on defense, then shot the lights out on offense on their way to their 5th State Crown.
But perhaps even more impressive was the play of that other small school powerhouse, Starks. The Lady Panthers so easily took apart defending Class C State Champ Plainview, that the engraving on the championship trophy could have commenced right after the opening tip.
Starks held Plainview with out a basket in the first quarter, on their way to a 19-2 lead after the opening stanza. The Lady Panthers had great seniors such as Baliegh Bussell and Kacie Willis. However the leader of the pack in the title game was a super sophomore named Ciara Bussell, Baliegh's cousin. Ciara was so deadly accurate from beyond the arc that I didn't realize she missed three attempts until the postgame press conference. Going 8 for 11 from 3-point land and leading all scorers with 25 points made her more than deserving of MVP honors, as she was so honored with after the game.
In closing, I'd also like to offer my tip of the cap to the 4-A Champions from Jennings. The Lady Bulldogs might have had the toughest row to hoe to get to Hammond, having to play perennial power St. Louis three times in the regular season just to win the district title.
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