Apr 2, 2022
When Reece Beaver fouled out late in the fourth quarter of Southwestern’s Section VI Class B2 championship game against Eden for all intents and purposes it signaled the end of a run of four straight sectional titles for the Trojans’ program.
The fact that they didn’t win a fifth straight was no fault of Beaver’s.
The sophomore guard had a season to remember this winter.
Playing for her third head coach in four seasons, Beaver averaged 23.8 points, 4.4 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 3.3 steals per game as the Trojans claimed a share of the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 West crown.
Unofficially, her 499 points ranked sixth in the section, 93 assists ranked 12th and 59 3-pointers made ranked 12th.
She led the Trojans in scoring, assists, 3-pointers and steals while ranking fourth in rebounds.
Along the way this season, Beaver set a career high in scoring four times beginning with an opening-night performance of 31 points that included eight 3-pointers in a 62-59 loss to nonleague Panama.
She scored 21 points against Class AA Orchard Park on Dec. 6 and then Beaver scored 27 points in a 66-62 victory over eventual Class D state finalist Sherman on Dec. 8 before Southwestern was forced into a two-week shutdown.
When the Trojans returned to action Dec. 20, Beaver scored 28 points in a 64-57 loss to Class C Far West Regional runnerup Frewsburg before nights of 17, 20, 26 and 18 points against Panama, Frewsburg, Dunkirk and Randolph, respectively.
Beaver then matched her new career-high 31 points Jan. 18 at Olean, a Class B1 semifinalist.
On Jan. 31 at Dunkirk, needing 16 points to reach 1,000 for her career, Beaver scored Southwestern’s first 21 points of the game in an 82-22 victory over the Marauders. Once the night was over, she had established a new career high of 33 points.
In a pair of wins over Olean and Fredonia following her career night, Beaver scored 26 and 21 points, respectively.
The 33-point career high stood for less than two weeks.
On the afternoon of Feb. 12 against Holland, Beaver scored 36 points, including seven 3-pointers, as the Trojans beat the Lady Dutchmen 74-57.
She completed her regular-season schedule with outputs of 21 and 18 points against Allegany-Limestone and Randolph.
Beaver wrapped up her season with 19 points in a sectional quarterfinal win over Fredonia, 22 points in a semifinal victory over Royalton-Hartland at Kenmore West High School and 21 points in a 58-39 title game loss to Eden at the Buffalo State Sports Arena.
For leading Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties in scoring, and leading Southwestern to the brink of a fifth straight sectional crown, Beaver is the 2022 Post-Journal\/OBSERVER Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
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