Brownsboro’s Caylor Blackmon goes up for a shot against Henderson Thursday at the Great East Texas Shootout in Brownsboro.

BROWNSBORO — When you walk into the gym at Brownsboro High School, the banners are hanging from the rafters.

There’s the one yellow one on the boys’ side signifying a state championship in 1966-67 along with some more state finalist and regional appearances, but then the girls’ side is filled with banner after banner for multiple regional tournament appearances and six state tournament trips.

There are two regional semifinalist banners from the last two years, but the most recent state tournament trip was in 2006.

And there are no state finalist appearances and no yellow state championship banners for the Bearettes.

This year’s version of the Bearettes, ranked No. 4 in the state in Class 4A and sporting a record of 36-2, wants to change that.

“The girls actually have never won a state championship, but they’ve been to state,” senior Paris Miller said. “We want to push to try to get that yellow banner.”

“There are a lot of banners,” senior Mekhayia Moore said. “It’s a lot of pressure, because we’re trying to get a new one, and we’re trying to get the big yellow one that says state champions.”

Head coach Jeremy Durham, who is in his second year leading the program after previously coaching at Chapel Hill, grew up in Brownsboro. He knows what the basketball program means to the school and the community.

“I played on three great boys basketball teams here, and we had phenomenal seasons, and we were never as good as the girls,” Durham said. “I’m a lot more in favor of that now than I was in the late ’80s. I grew up here obviously. My sister and I graduated from here. My parents graduated from here. Coach (Fred) Griffin coached me and has been a mentor for me in this profession. Obviously I love this community and I love this school, and it means the world to me to be sitting here right now. It would be pretty difficult to beat my first two years and what this group has done.”

Now, the Bearettes go into the Class 4A Region II Tournament with a chance to build on their already great season and careers and put their stamp on the program.

“They truly love each other, and they love this place,” Durham said. They love this game. That was instilled in them by their parents and our tradition here. They take great pride in that, and they defend it, and they want to add their stamp on that.”

Speaking of defending, that’s something the Bearettes have done pretty well this season, holding opponents to 32.2 points per game. Brownsboro has held 19 of its opponents to less than 30 points with a 13 and a 17 mixed in there.

“If Coach (Emily) Breedlove was here, she would say defense for sure has been our key,” Moore said. “We got a new defensive formation this year, and we were kind of caught off guard and didn’t really know what to do. It took a while to adjust, but it’s definitely a lot better now that we’re more confident in it. She’s forced us to go after every loose ball and to have more energy when playing defense. She’s also taught us that defense wins games, and she’s not lying.”

Breedlove came to Brownsboro this year after previously coaching at Tyler Legacy High School, where she also helped bring an emphasis to the defensive end of the court.

“I think hearing the kids talk about it tells you how important she is to us,” Durham said. “I knew the way this group could improve was on the defensive side of the ball. When Coach Breedlove agreed to come to Brownsboro, I knew what that meant. And our kids figured out pretty quick that she brings so much to the table that makes us so great on that side of the ball.”

Another key component for the Bearettes has been their bond.

“Our chemistry and being able to work together so easily has helped us a lot,” senior Tori Hooker said. “We have literally played together since the fifth great. People tell us all of the time that they can see it from the stands, watching us play, that we are so unselfish and united.”

The Class 4A Region II Tournament begins on Friday at the Texas A&M-University Commerce Field House. And while this is Brownsboro’s third straight trip to the regional semifinals, it is the first time back at the actual regional tournament as there were no regional tournaments last season due to COVID-19.

“It’s definitely really exciting,” senior Allie Cooper said. “Our sophomore year, we actually got to go to the tournament, and playing in that atmosphere was just a really good experience. I think our sophomore year, we were a little bit star struck with all of it. I think now that we’ve done it the past two years, we’re going to be prepared for the loudness, and we’re going to be more ready this time.”

The Bearettes will take on No. 13 Sanger (30-4) at 8 p.m. Friday. Dallas Lincoln and Paris will face off at 6 p.m. in the other semifinal. The regional final is set for 3 p.m. Saturday in Commerce.

“It’s really exciting, because we really think we can win our region and go further,” Miller said. “All three years prior to this, we’ve lost by no more than three points.”

The Bearettes lost by three to Pleasant Grove in the regional quarterfinals in 2019, by three to Melissa in the regional semifinals in 2020 and by one to Dallas Pinkston in the regional semifinals in 2021.

While every team is good at this point in the season, Brownsboro feels prepared for any challenge.

“This team has been in so many big playoff games and close games our whole high school career,” Hooker said. “I feel like it makes us a lot more prepared going into these bigger games.”

“We played the toughest pre-district schedule I could assemble,” Durham said. “We played five teams that are in the regional tournament right now. We purposely played a really difficult sechedule and played some great teams. I hope our pre-district schedule and playing Canton and the good teams in our district has prepared us for what we’re about to face.”

The teams still playing that Brownsboro faced in non-district are Winnsboro, Edgewood, Mount Vernon, Fairfield and LaPoynor.

Brownsboro’s roster consists of senior Rebecca Rumbo, sophomore Khyra Garrett, freshman Hannah Stout, sophomore Khayla Garrett, senior Mekhayia Moore, senior Karis Fisher, senior Allie Cooper, senior Caylor Blackmon, senior Ja’Niya Barron, senior Paris Miller, senior Emma Barrentine, senior Tori Hooker and freshman Tiykeah McKenzie. Coaches are Durham, Breedlove and Amanda Hoover.

———

While the Bearettes’ on-court success has been off the charts, so has their work in the classroom.

“Everyone on our team is an A honor roll student,” Durham said. “Every kid we’ve got is academic all-district. It’s phenomenal knowing you don’t have to worry about them in the classroom, and you don’t have to worry about them off the floor. It also helps us on the court, because we can be very multiple offensively and especially defensively, because they’re capable of processing that and executing it on the floor. It’s really nice to have really smart kids and a team full of them.”

Cooper is currently ranked No. 1 in the Brownsboro Class of 2022. She has signed to play volleyball at Southern Arkansas University, where she said she plans to major in pre-medicine to become a physical therapist.

Moore is currently ranked No. 2 in the Brownsboro Class of 2022. She said she plans to attend Texas Christian University and major in biology.