Countdown to tipoff: Reese returns to provide interior presence for short, scrappy Pirates

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HANNIBAL, Mo. — Zaria Reese tried to play through the pain. Now she doesn’t have to, and that is a welcomed feeling for the members of the Hannibal girls basketball team.

Reese, now a senior forward for the Pirates, battled pain in her left knee for the majority of her sophomore season.

“I love to rebound, play defense, give 100 percent,” Reese said. “Back then, I couldn’t do anything without being hurt.”

Following the 2022-23 season, Reese discovered she had a partially torn ACL.

“I couldn’t take the pain anymore, so I was like, ‘I’ve got to go get it checked out,’ and they said, ‘Yep, you partially tore it,’” Reese said.

On June 26, 2023, she underwent surgery to repair the ligament, sidelining her for more than seven months.

“I went to physical therapy three times a week, just doing the same stretches, bending my knee more and more each day,” Reese said of her recovery. “I had exercises to do at home. When I was able to practice, I’d be on the sideline doing little stuff. I couldn’t practice with my team, but I was on the sideline. That felt like some progress.”

Forced to watch from the sidelines increased Reese’s hunger to return.

“Being away was so hard,” Reese said. “I cried at practice. Seeing everyone work hard made me want to work hard to get back.”

Reese returned in time for the final three games of her junior season, and even though she was far from 100 percent, Hannibal coach Shawn Gaines noticed a lift in Reese’s spirits as she slowly worked her way back to form.

“She was a little frustrated (in the beginning),” Gaines said. “Everybody wants to play. Everybody wants to get in and do something. She was a little frustrated to start, but once the season started going, her spirits lifted a little bit.”

While playing for her AAU team — the Missouri Phenom — this past summer, Reese felt like her old self again.

“That’s when I found out I was really back,” Reese said. “That’s when my teammates from my AAU team, my coaches, even the players here were like, ‘Yeah, she’s back.’”

Now at full strength, Reese returns to lead a new-look Pirates squad that features just two other seniors — Mariah Mayfield and Jay Lajoy — and four freshmen — Kaliyah Chinn, Peyton Harsell, Selena Thompson and Lyla Dorsey — who are likely to see significant playing time.

Mayfield said the Pirates missed Reese dearly while she was out last season.

“That was tough for us because she’s really strong down there in the post,” Mayfield said. “Having her back this year is a really big benefit for us. We are a pretty short team, so having someone that’s really good down there with the ball and can score with pressure against taller people is really beneficial to us.”

Dorsey, an outside hitter for the Pirates volleyball team, will see the bulk of the minutes at center, while Reese will primarily play the small and power forward spots, flanked by Mayfield as an off-ball guard. 

Junior point guard Malia Stolte will run the show offensively. Both Mayfield and Stolte averaged more than 10 points per game last season and were All-North Central Missouri Conference selections. The guard duo combined for 6.3 steals per game in the Pirates’ high-pressure system, and Stolte dished out 2.1 assists per contest. 

“I love getting steals,” Stolte said. “I love making other teams upset at themselves for not doing well. Those layups when we get the steals are awesome, and I think this year is going to be even better.”

Mayfield’s shooting complements Stolte’s playmaking ability and Reese and Dorsey’s paint presence. Mayfield knocked down a school-record seven 3-pointers in the Pirates’ 64-51 win over Warrenton in last season’s Class 5 District 4 quarterfinals.

“I feel like it’ll not only help the first choice of the play, but if we can’t get a look down low we can kick it out, dribble drive and kick out to the wing or the corner to get that shot,” Mayfield said.

As tough and physical as Reese is, Gaines said teams may overlook just how gifted of a scorer Reese can be.

“She can finish almost anything around the bucket,” Gaines said. “She’s a tremendous rebounder at only 5-9. The thing that surprises a lot of people is she has a really nice jump shot. She can knock down a 3 or two if you leave her open.”

A fully healthy Reese provides a powerful offensive weapon and defensive force to a scrappy Pirates bunch eager to build on back-to-back winning seasons under Gaines, who enters his third season as head coach.

“We’re not always the biggest, we’re not always the tallest, but we do have athleticism and speed, so we try to use that to our advantage,” Gaines said. “I want Hannibal girls basketball to be back to where it was. In the mid- to late-80s and early ‘90s, Hannibal girls basketball was a force. Whenever I took over, that was my main focus, getting us back to where we used to be.”