Hi-Line Athlete Profile: Maya Reed, Rocky Boy Girls Basketball

For Rocky Boy girls basketball player Maya Reed, basketball has been an important part of her life for a long time, that and her church. And those two things have combined perfectly for Reed as she has played for the Morning Stars the past two seasons.

Yet Reed wasn’t always a Rocky Boy player. In fact, two years ago, as a freshman, she started her career at Havre High and even saw meaningful minutes on a team that reached the Class A state tournament semifinals.

But, as Reed said, her plan was never to stay in Havre or go to school there, it was always to go to Rocky Boy, not just to play basketball, but for her church and to be closer to her family.

“Coming out here was always the plan,” Reed said. “It just makes me feel that I am closer to family and closer to my church so it has worked out really well.”

Reed, who played her first season with the Morning Stars in 2015-16, was part of a team that was going through a transition. After having a strong team the previous season, Rocky Boy struggled to find itself a year ago and for the second straight year, the Morning Stars were bounced at the Northern B Divisional tournament.

This year, though, the Morning Stars, under the direction of new head coach Cameron McCormick, Rocky Boy is off to a much better start. The Morning Stars have lost their last two games to Fairfield and Havre, but before that they had won seven of their first eight games, including a season-opening win over Box Elder, the Class C runner-up a season ago.

And Reed, who does a lot of ball handling for the Morning Stars has been a big part of their turnaround. She scored 10 points against Box Elder at the Native American Classic and has had multiple games this year when she scored in double figures.

More importantly, Reed and the play of her teammates such as Sean Henry and Adrienne Gopher have the Morning Stars sitting at 4-1 in conference play, which has them tied for first place in the District 1B. And with the district tournament fast approaching, Rocky Boy has a key stretch of games as it plays conference opponents in four of its last seven games.

But before the Morning Stars start down that stretch, the Havre Daily News caught up with Reed for five questions.

HDN: Is it strange for you when you play Havre and some of your old teammates?

Reed: “No. I don’t really think about it when we play, honestly. Most of the girls that I played with were juniors and seniors and they have graduated now.”

HDN: How has the transition gone from Havre to Rocky Boy?

Reed: “It’s gone really well, actually. I have enjoyed it. I feel more comfortable here than I did in Havre. When I moved to the Hi-Line area, my intent was to be in Rocky Boy anyways and Havre was just kind of transition point more. I am living out here so it feels more comfortable. I grew up out here and basketball is big out here, and I have been playing for a long time and with my church out here, it just feels more like a family.”

HDN: What has been the reason for the team’s good start this season?

Reed: “We played together all summer, and I think that has made a big difference. They played together the summer before, but it was more sporadic and there wasn’t any real flow, and we had a new coach come in and he had a plan from the start to get us playing games.”

HDN: Do you participate in any other sports?

Reed: “Cross country. I am not very fast, but I really like to run. It has also helped me with basketball. I didn’t have to go through the hard part of the first two weeks like some of the others on the team did ’cause cross country helped me prepare for that.”

HDN: What is the goal for this Rocky Boy team; what do you think you guys can achieve?

Reed: “Long term, I think that we can make it to the state. I really do.”