Zachary hadn’t led in more than 22 minutes Saturday when the defending Division-I champion inbounded the ball with 16 seconds remaining.
But coach Tami Reynolds-McClure said she had no doubts where the ball was going or that the Lady Broncos would be leaving Southeastern Louisiana’s University Center as back-to-back Division-I Non-Select champions.
“We’re gonna win,” she said bluntly when asked her thoughts in the moment. “We’re gonna win. I knew when (senior Ava Raymond) got the ball in her hands, when she came down the court, she crossed that girl over, did her signature move, slide to the middle — boom! Back. Goal. Score. I knew it.
“She was not gonna lose this game. She was not gonna leave this gym without a win. I knew it.”
The McNeese State signee, the lone returning player from the 2025 lineup, did exactly that, rising to the occasion with the game-winner in the lane in the final seconds, and then helping her teammates disrupt and deflect Slidell’s ensuing inbound to clinch the 52-51 victory.
Raymond earned MVP honors with a game-high 27 points — tied for the most by any player in a title game this week — along with nine rebounds and five steals while committing just one turnover.
“This is my senior year, so of course I’m gonna go out with a bang,” she smiled. “So that’s why I got the ball and had beaucoup confidence.”
Raymond’s little teardrop sliding across the lane will be the most-lasting singular moment of the Lady Broncos’ comeback from as much as a 10-point deficit late in the second quarter.
But that stage was set by her and her teammates’ swarming, full-court pressure defense, which snatched four steals in the third quarter and then an eye-popping 10 in the fourth.
“Last year we didn’t press, and I was in that same mindset of ‘OK, we don’t have to press. Our halfcourt defense is really good,’ and then our halfcourt defense wasn’t too good. And then we had to go to something else,” Reynolds-McClure said. “So we had it in our back pocket. We did it a lot during our district, so they were ready for it. We put the little halfcourt trap in two weeks ago. And it worked well. Just tried to change it up. Our team’s very athletic and quick, and we needed to take advantage of that. And I think Slidell got a little bit tired, too.”
Raymond was one of five players with multiple steals, joined by sophomore forward Asia Bell, freshman guard Marcia Robinson and sophomore guard Kennedi Whitfield with three each and junior guard Ayja Walker with two.
Zachary turned those takeaways into 24 points off 24 Slidell turnovers, including 19 points off 19 second-half turnovers.
“It’s a tough loss,” Slidell coach Kristin Twillie said. “I felt like we controlled the game most of the game until we had entirely too many turnovers against their halfcourt trap. We work on that a lot, so that’s a little frustrating, but we made it here. We had a dogfight to get here. So it’s been a great season for us. These kids have nothing to hang their head about. It’s just sad that they can’t win it in the end. But somebody has to lose. Two very good teams.”
The Lady Tigers had built their lead in part by taking care of the ball so effectively in the first half and winning the battle for points off turnovers.
But the Lady Broncos blitzed Slidell’s ball-handlers over and over again in the second half with enough success to give them nearly twice as many shot attempts (31 to 16) to help fuel the rally.
“It was four quarters,” Reynolds-McClure said. “We were discombobulated in the beginning. Hats off to Slidell. They did an amazing job. Tough team to play. And when the girls were out of sorts, we just called a timeout to calm them down a little bit, remind them why they got here, who they are and then I’m saying to myself, ‘Let’s cut it to within six,’ and then we cut it to within five going into halftime. And then going into the third, we went into a little half-court trap and then went full-court and frazzled ’em a little bit. But these girls just don’t give up.”
Whitfield, another big spark in the comeback, finished with 12 points, four rebounds and three steals.
Bell had seven points, a game-high 10 rebounds, three steals and four blocked shots, and Robinson added five points, two boards, three steals and an assist.
“The thing people don’t realize: We lost nine seniors. We had one returning starters,” Reynolds-McClure said. “People say, ‘Oh, this is the same team.’ This is not the same team. Kennedi did not step foot on that floor last year. So for her, her semifinal and final game, for her to do what she did, not be rattled by anything, composed, taking it to the goal and everything — these young ones under (Raymond’s) leadership, fell in line with her, and they all fell in line together, all nine of ’em… and I just knew that they would keep fighting.”
Junior guard Madyson Parker led Slidell with 21 points, eight rebounds, two steals and an assist, and senior guard Jaelynn Elliott joined her in double-figures with 13 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Junior forward Trista Gallien added eight points, seen rebounds and an assists.
Both junior guard Cianni Williams and senior guard Payton Rowbatham had five points. Williams also grabbed five rebounds and blocked a shot, and Rowbatham had three steals, two rebounds and two assists.
“They will forever be the first team to do it,” Twillie said of the Lady Tigers’ first-ever state finalist. “So they need to be proud that they have set the standard for future teams, and everyone will talk about them being the first ones to get here. So I think that’s incredibly important.”