Fairview wins 12th state title
First since 2014 season
No. 1 Fairview struggled to find its shooting touch early and trailed No. 2 Hathaway at halftime. But senior Laynee Jinks hit some clutch 3-pointers to help spark the Panthers to a 65-55 win in the Class B state championship game on Friday at the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Marsh Madness state basketball tournament at Burton Coliseum.
Jinks, who was named game MVP, hit four 3-pointers in the third quarter and finished with five and a game-high 19 points after hitting 1 of 10 shots in the first half.
“I just was not knocking anything down and shooting a lot at the beginning,” Jinks said. “It was hard, but I knew we needed to step it up after halftime.
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“(Coach Jinks) came in here and talked to us, and we realized we needed to step it up if we really wanted to win.”
With 2:42 left in the third quarter, Jinks hit a 3 put the Panthers (42-3) on top for good, 43-41, and sparked a 16-2 run.
Fairview won its first state championship since 2014 and 12th overall.
“Mission accomplished,” Fairview head coach Kyle Jinks said. “This is what we set out to do all year.
“I am going to tell you what, hats off to Hathaway. They came and fought their tails off. (Hathaway head coach Courtnee Young) has a young team. They came out and wasn’t afraid of anything.”
Hathaway’s (29-6) plan going into the game was to let the Panthers take the deep shots and block off the lane, and it worked. Fairview shot 4 of 29 from 3-point range in the first 16 minutes. Hathaway led by as many as three points in the first half and took a 31-30 lead into the break after a putback by Madison Suire.
“They are going to shoot it, let’s take away the drive and hopefully they are not hitting,” Young said. “That actually worked in the first half. Then the second half came and they got hot. At the end of the day, they are good and I feel like we played them tough. They can’t say by any means that was an easy game for them.”
Maggie Manuel had a double-double for Fairview with 11 points and 27 rebounds. Rylee Cloud (13) and Rylee Jinks (10) combined for 23 points. Chloey Guidry led Hathaway with 16 points.