REEVES — Reeves controlled the game early with its strong inside game, but Fairview’s quick-strike offense won out in the second half as the Panthers locked up the District 5-C girls basketball championship with a 53-38 win Tuesday night.

Fairview’s ability to hit a 3-pointer directly from a pass, and fast pace of play, turned a nine-point halftime lead into a 16-point lead in the third quarter. Fairview (34-7, 7-0) shot 50 percent from beyond the 3-point arc in the third quarter after shooting 27.8 percent in the first half.

“When it is going in the hole, it looks really good,” Fairview head coach Kyle Jinks said. “When it is not, it looks bad.

“We didn’t change a whole lot with what we were doing. We got in a little foul trouble and had to make an adjustment. Once we got a sufficient lead, if (Reeves) wanted to play slow, slow is fine with us because we were winning.”

Ella Reeves had the hot hand in the third quarter, hitting a pair of 3s off passes from Reesie Jinks in the first two minutes. Bella Smith added another for a 37-23 lead with 5:44 left in the third quarter. Reeves made five 3-pointers and finished with 19 points. Jinks hit three deep balls and scored a game-high 20 points, plus nine assists and seven rebounds. Kayla Guillory made a trio of 3s as the Panthers made 12 as a team.

Fairview won its fourth consecutive district championship and upped its district win streak to 20 games dating to the final game of the 2018-2019 season.

Reeves (24-6, 5-2) stayed in the paint most of the first half and didn’t attempt a 3-pointer until the second quarter. The Raiders relied on the Cauthron sisters, Faith and Hope, to win the paint. Hope Cauthron scored seven of her 11 points in the first quarter, including a bucket with 2:17 left in the first quarter for a 12-11 lead. Faith Cauthron had 13 points and 14 rebounds before fouling out with 1:25 left in the game.

“That is probably the best Reeves team that I have seen since 2003,” Jinks said. “They are really good. (Head coach Mark Dronet) has everything. He has guards. He has posts. He has smart kids.

“I think they can make a deep run. Again, I think it comes down to who you run into in the playoffs.”

The regular season ends on Saturday. Fairview will likely be the No. 1 seed in Division IV non-select with a possibility of meeting the Raiders for a fourth time this season at some point in the postseason.

“I am really excited for the playoffs,” Jinks said. “It is going to be a tough road.

“This year, combining Class B and C, you have 16 to 18 teams that can beat anybody on a given night. It is probably the toughest classification in basketball right now. It is hard to beat a good team twice, to beat them three or four times is really tough.”