By Daniel Green | BWS Sports

BATON ROUGE — For the past three years, the Fairview Lady Panthers and Simsboro Tigers have found themselves at the top of the mountain in Class B basketball.

This time around, however, they garnered even more recognition as Lady Panther senior Rylee Cloud and Tiger senior Jordan Crawford were selected as the Class B Most Valuable Players by a panel of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association

Cloud, a softball signee for the University of Arkansas, proved her worth on the basketball court as well. The District 5-B Most Valuable Player averaged 24 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals for the second-seeded Lady Panthers. Cloud had a pair of stellar performances in the Class B semifinals, where she blistered the nets for eight three-pointers and 34 points, while scoring 19 points in the state finals against Oak Hill.

“I’ve never been more proud of a group of kids,” Fairview head coach Kyle Jinks said after his squad won the title. “They truly bought into what we do and Rylee was our leader on the court. She’s been with me these last three years and we are going to miss her leadership.”

Crawford was a force for Simsboro as the 6-2 senior averaged 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the state champion Tigers, who knocked off Zwolle in the finals. Crawford was one of three players for Simsboro to average at least 16 points per game, including first-teamer Nick Maryland and second-team choice Chilaydren Newton.

Kaci West of Oak Hill and Micah Rasberry of Lacassine were named the Coaches of the Year. West guided Oak Hill to its first state championship in school history, along with earning the most wins by any team in Louisiana in 2022. Rasberry led Lacassine to the state semifinals for the first time in a number of years, garnering the No. 4 seed in the process.

Joining Cloud on the first-team were Oak Hill’s Alexis Dyer, Anacoco’s Bailey Davis, Hathaway’s Madison Suire and Fairview’s Reesie Jinks.

Dyer led Oak Hill with 17 points and nine rebounds per game, while Davis guided Anacoco to the state semifinals by topping top-ranked Hathaway in the quarterfinals, averaging 14 points and 12 boards per game. Suire averaged 17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Lady Hornets, while Jinks averaged 15 points and 10 assists per contest en route to winning Class B championship game Outstanding Player honors.

Joining Crawford and Maryland on the first team were Anacoco sophomore Dustin Welch, Zwolle junior Kenneth Montgomery and Lacassine junior Aaron Garcia.

Welch was good for 20 points and 10 rebounds per game for the semifinalist Indians, while Montgomery averaged 19 points per outing for state finalist Zwolle. Garcia pitched in 20 points and seven rebounds a game for the semifinalist Cardinals.

The second-team all-state picks were Hathaway senior Chloey Guidry, Florien junior Latoya Holmes, Fairview junior Bella Smith, Holden junior Cambree Courtney and Glenmora sophomore Matalie Yancey for the girls. The boys’ second-team consisted of Newton, Doyline junior Jamaria Clark, Fairview junior Brett Jinks, Choudrant senior Chris Williams and Saline senior Ethan Roberts.

Local players named honorable mention all-state include Anacoco’s Paige Mayo, Oak Hill’s Emma Tucker, Negreet’s Kaiya Causey, Florien’s Gage Remedies, Fairview’s Landon Strother and Anacoco’s Chase Taylor.