After missing the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Top 28 basketball tournament for the first time in nearly a decade last season, the Fairview girls team will make its return to the state semifinals tonight.
The Panthers (40-2) will face a familiar foe in District 4-B opponent Anacoco (23-7) at 8 p.m. at the University Center in Hammond in hopes of reaching the state finals for the 14th time in school history.
“The fact that we didn’t make it last year was a motivating factor for us this season,” said Fairview head coach Kyle Jinks. “When you’re that successful for that long a period of time, and you don’t make it, it motivates you. To finally be back is exciting.”
Fairview defeated the Indians in both regular season district games between the two programs, the first time 67-62 on the road and then 57-48 at home in the Panthers’ regular season finale.
Despite Fairview’s success against Anacoco this season, Jinks said he doesn’t plan on letting his team overlook the Indians, or any of the remaining teams in the bracket for that matter.
“That’s going to be tough, I’m going to tell you right now,” Jinks said. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years... and this is the toughest top-four group with the least amount of separation between us I’ve seen. No. 4 (Holden) could beat No. 1 (Florien), we could all beat each other on any given night. There are four really good teams over here, and it’s going to come down to who plays the best basketball.
“It’s tough to beat a good team like (Anacoco) twice. To beat them three times is just going to be really tough. We’re just going to come out here and do our best, but it’s going to be tough.”
The Panthers are led by all-state senior Callie Maddox, who regularly puts up giant numbers for Fairview.
Jinks also praised point guard Maddison Martin for her scoring ability.
“Maddox is our leading scorer and our team captain,” Jinks said. “Her and Martin both really get us going. Our best defender is Maddison (Martin), our best rebounder is Callie (Maddox), and the rest of our players are really coming around. They’re really good role players. Everybody on the team shoots the ball well.”
Jinks said he believes if the Panthers go into the University Center and play Fairview basketball, his team will be hard to stop.
“We’re not going to change anything,” he said. “We’re going to go out there and do what we do and see where it takes us.
“I’m going to tell them to go out there and be Fairview.”
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