Teagan Reeves found out recently that she has been named a Michigan Miss Basketball finalist. The Wildcats won a second consecutive Wolverine Conference West Division title Tuesday and will play Otsego for the outright league championship Thursday.
(Photo by Wes Morgan)
Three Rivers senior Teagan Reeves has been named a finalist for the 2013-14 Michigan Miss Basketball Award, which would be the feather in the Western Michigan University signee’s cap as her stunning prep career winds down.
The full list of finalists is to be announced Friday. The Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan selects the winner prior to the state tournament at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
“I was really excited,” Reeves, a 6-foot-2, center/forward said. “I was actually with my family when I found out, so that was really cool. I got to share that with them.”
Reeves has 1,488 career points and 985 rebounds. According to the Michigan High School Athletic Association, only 18 girls have finished with 1,000 or more rebounds. Reeves also boasts 327 blocks, a total which ranks ninth all time in Michigan.
“Teagan is a girl who has taken her physical God-given tools and done everything in her power to perfect them and improve,” Three Rivers coach Jason Bingaman said. “Her dedication to the sport has been instrumental to her becoming the type of basketball player she is today. Every year she has added a dimension to her game, which is important, and shows that she has never been satisfied with just being good enough.”
Teagan Reeves
Reeves, tabbed a four-star player by ESPN, entered this season with school records for points, blocked shots, blocks in a season and blocks in a game. She also now holds a program best in rebounds. As a junior, Reeves, who will also play volleyball at WMU as a preferred walk-on, was an Associated Press Class B first-team all-state selection after averaging 21.3 points, 11.1 boards, four blocks, 2.1 assists and 1.7 steals per contest.
“All that stuff is just kind of weird to me,” she said. “I just go out there and play my hardest and try to get wins. It’s not like I’m trying to go out there and score so many points and get so many rebounds. I just love playing basketball. It’s weird when I’m told that kind of stuff because I’m just out there having fun and playing my hardest.”
Through 19 games this year, Reeves is averaging 22.4 points, 13.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 4.6 blocks and 2.4 steals per game.
“It’s just so nice to have all the support from my family, my friends and all the fans of Wildcat basketball that come every week,” she said. “Not only is it nice for me, but it was nice when they announced it at our game [Tuesday] and a bunch of people stood up. It was nice to look out at all those people and know they were excited about it, too.”
Three Rivers (16-3) is coming off its second consecutive Wolverine Conference West Division title after Tuesday’s blowout win over South Haven made it a 10-0 sweep for the Wildcats in divisional play. Head coach Jason Bingaman’s squad won the outright league title last year and will play for back-to-back crowns Thursday against Otsego, which won the East Division with a 9-1 record. Three Rivers’ girls program has never produced consecutive conference championships.
The Bulldogs won 54-37 at Three Rivers in a crossover game on Feb. 11. It was an off night for the Wildcats, but the rematch is expected to be a back-alley brawl.
“We know that we’re going to have to play better defense and some of the girls on offense we’ll move to different spots on the court. We’re working on that right now in practice. I think just working together as a team and talking a lot on defense will help us.”
Freeland’s Tori Jankoska, now at Michigan State, was named Miss Basketball for the 2012-13 season. Since the award’s inception in 1981, no player from St. Joseph County has won.
Teagan Reeves’ career stats.
(Click to enlarge)