Reedy loop
- Updated: February 29, 2024
Senior Reedy’s late 3-pointer brings the family specialty to another state championship for Spring Garden’s girls.
BIRMINGHAM — Macy Reedy and younger sister Maggie barely tick above 5-feet tall, but they both have a sweet 3-point stroke.
It’s only appropriate that Macy’s advice to Maggie going into Thursday’s Class 1A state final was short and sweet.
“She said, ‘Finish it out with a bang,'” Maggie relayed.
That she did.
Leave it to nine-time and back-to-back state champion Spring Garden to deliver an emotional charge long after they had settled any scoreboard-related drama against Marion County. The 63-31 victory meant that long-time Spring Garden coach Ricky Austin had a chance to call a curtain-call timeout for his stars and give his reserves their moment in Birmingham’s Legacy Arena.
Echoing the 3-point touch Macy Reedy brought to Spring Garden’s state championships of 2020 and 2018, Maggie Reedy brought the family specialty to another Spring Garden state title. She made a three with 20 seconds left to provide the final margin.
She had tried a couple of driving shots before that, and why not? Her teammates wanted her to have the ball every chance possible, after she entered the game with 2:06 to play.
It only seems appropriate that a Reedy sister would knock down a three, in a triumphant state-championship game, to close out her high school career.
There’s not something in my eye. There’s something in your eye.
Maggie Reedy had to wipe the tears from her eyes a few times during postgame trophy ceremonies.
“It meant a lot,” she said. “It was my last game, my senior year, you know?”
It meant as much to her coach and teammates who got called to the postgame news conference as it meant to Maggie Reedy, as she soaked down the hall, in the moment in the locker room.
“I love Maggie Reedy more than anything,” senior teammate and all-tournament pick Chloe Rule said. “Like I said the other day, we want to see everyone on the team succeed, so, when I get to see my little Maggie Reedy go on there and score, it just makes me so excited.”
Tournament MVP Ace Austin, the junior and Alabama commit who poured in more points (35) than she played minutes (31), had to compose herself before talking about her senior teammates.
“To have people like them, they’re not just good teammates,” she said. “You want people like them around your life every day.
“Libby (Brown) and Chloe have the most kind hearts I’ve ever met. Allie Mobbs and Maggie Reedy, they don’t step on the floor a lot, but they work their butts off 24/7, and I think that just shows they kind of people they are.”
Ace Austin said she and other starters have to tell Reedy to shoot. It’s a matter of respect returned.
That’s why starters on the bench erupted when Maggie Reedy’s three hit bottoms.
“You seen the excitement,” Ricky Austin said. “She’s such a grinder every day.
“Her playing minutes are high, but there’s a lot of respect that our team has for her, because she works so hard in practice every day. She goes through weight room and everything these girls do. She’s a reason why we get better.”
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