Winning Michigan Miss Basketball means something much bigger to Gabby Reynolds
When Gabby Reynolds was a freshman, she asked Holland West Ottawa girls basketball coach Paul Chapman if she could wear jersey No. 1.
There was no No. 1 jersey, so Reynolds chose No. 3.
“It was the next closest jersey number to No. 1,” she said.
Before this season, Chapman ordered a No. 1 jersey but didn’t tell her about it until he pulled it out of the closet midway through this season.
Reynolds already was having an outstanding season, but Chapman saw even more than that in the 5-foot-9 senior point guard.
“If you’re a Miss Basketball candidate, you’ve got to be like a No. 1-type player,” he told her when he handed her the jersey. “It was just a little mind game thing.”
The mind game kind of worked. In nine of the next 10 games, Reynolds scored at least 30 points, including a 47-point effort.
Last week, Reynolds’ father, Keith, was speaking to Chapman on the phone and when he hung up, Reynolds asked: “What was that all about?”
“Follow me,” he told her.
His wife, LeeAnne, was in Gabby’s room and as he spoke, he pointed to Gabby and told his wife:
“You’re looking at Miss Basketball.”
Gabby Reynolds is the 43rd recipient of the Mick McCabe Miss Basketball award, given annually to the top senior in the state.
In one of the closest races in history, Reynolds totaled 2,370 points while second-place Lily Zeinstra of Byron Center earned 2,313. Plymouth Salem’s Madison Morson was third with 1,740 points with Indya (1,722) and Summer (1,521) Davis of West Bloomfield rounding out the finalists.
Only BCAM members are permitted to vote and must vote for three candidates. Points awarded on a 5-3-1 basis. Zeinstra had the most first-place votes, 290 to 281 for Reynolds, but Reynolds had 258 second-place votes to 224 for Zeinstra. They each had 191 third-place votes.
Didn’t know she had it in her
Reynolds was surprised to find out she won, and she tossed and turned most of the night.
“I did not get to bed until 1:30,” she said. “I couldn’t fall asleep. I kept thinking I ... I did not expect that. I was excited and hoped I got it, obviously. I just didn’t know for sure. I knew every girl that I was competing with I knew they were really, really good competitors. I didn’t know who was going to get it.”
A signee with George Washington, Reynolds understands this award doesn’t guarantee future stardom, but is a reflection of what she has done in high school, averaging 29.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.9 assists.
“Awards don’t say everything about a person, but it shows how hard you work and how
great a basketball player you are,” she said. “I’ve never been too concerned about it, but when I first found out about it three years ago, I really wanted to get to that level to know that I am a really good basketball player, and I think that’s what it shows.”
When asked, most parents of Miss Basketball winners say they could tell from an early age that their daughter could be in the running for this award. Not so with Keith Reynolds.
“That’s a hard question because of Gabb’s journey,” he said. “I think, probably it was real late in the game. Gabb’s always been competitive, she’s always aspired to be the best at what she tries to do.”
Reynolds is one of six children, following two older sisters and an older brother.
“My first and second daughters were not into sports at all,” Keith said. “So when Gabb was young and started saying, ‘will you teach me to do some basketball,’ I told her she wasn’t really interested in it.”
Unbeknownst to her father, Gabby did not listen to him, which he discovered a few years later.
“One day, I walked in the gym and saw her doing some sophisticated dribbling, and she was 10,” he said. “I told myself I didn’t want to be the dad that goes down in her mind as indifferent or disengaged.”
Keith, who played college football, still didn’t take it too seriously until his daughter played AAU for the first time as a freshman in high school.
“That first live period, she was creating a buzz with her play,” he said. “After the very first live period, our phone started blowing up and she got her very first Division I offer.”
Chapman first spotted Reynolds at his camp when she was in middle school. Back then, her dreams exceeded her talent level.
But her enthusiasm for the game was unparalleled.
“She was a kid that literally loved basketball and she talked about playing in college someday,” he said. “You hear a middle school kid talking like that you say: ‘Yeah, good dream.’ “
She soon began improving at a steady pace and by the time she reached high school her dream to play college basketball didn’t seem so farfetched.
“She plays with more force than most girls do; she’s really strong,” Chapman said. “She
really goes hard to the basket. She’s able to get her shot off with contact. I’ve been coaching boys and girls for over 40 years and she works harder than anybody I’ve ever had. The other day before we left for the game, she was shooting for 45 minutes.
“She’s very skilled because she’s worked on her game.”
Summer growth spurt
Reynolds’ improvement has been steady, but it took off last spring and summer.
“Honestly, I think the biggest leap was from my junior year to my senior year,” she said. “I’ve played a lot more aggressive. I think my mentality has really changed this year. It’s not about my stats or anything, but doing what I need to do to get my team to win.”
West Ottawa is 20-6 and has a quarterfinal game against defending Division 1 state champ Rockford at Grandville at 7 p.m. Tuesday. She has done much to help the Panthers win.
Part of that may be due to her now wearing jersey No. 1, like she wanted to, back as a freshman.
“I wanted that for the same reason that my coach was telling me after he switched me to No. 1, that if you’re No. 1 you have to play like you’re No. 1,” she said. “I want to play like I’m the best player on the court.
“That’s not supposed to be in an arrogant way, but I always want to play to the best of my abilities. That’s what the No. 1 stands for to me.”
And being Miss Basketball stands for something else to Reynolds, something much bigger than just her.
“For the most part I think it will change the influence I have over little kids,” she said. “I think that’s one of the things I’m most proud of. Once little girls in this area that dream about playing basketball can see that another girls from Ottawa County area, it will really change perspective and help little girls.”
Mick McCabe is a former longtime columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at mick.mccabe11@gmail.com . Follow him @mickmccabe1 . Save 10% on his new book, “Mick McCabe’s Golden Yearbook: 50 Great Years of Michigan’s Best High School Players, Teams & Memories,” by ordering right now at McCabe.PictorialBook.com .