Great Story on our Elite Womens basketball recruit Cate Reese

[GoCatZ]

Arizona Women's basketball coach Adia Barnes just landed the highest rated recruit in the history of our program.  She's tearing it up on the recruiting trail.

"Recruiting is a lifeline, a process," says Arizona women's basketball coach Adia Barnes. "It is a marathon and not a sprint."

Cate Reese is the 1st of many more top level recruits that Arizona will be getting in the future. Our top recruit has a great story to go along with it. Read Cate's story below.

With a motor and a mentor, elite basketball recruit Cate Reese moves forward with diabetes

When Cate Reese was 2 years old, she scampered on tiny legs from the front door of the family townhouse to the back. Then she did it again. And again. And again.

Fifteen years later, the 6-foot-3 junior forward for Cypress Woods (Cypress, Texas) and the No. 14 prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Super 60 for 2018 class is still in constant motion. Reese beats opponents from rim to rim. She fidgets in the huddle. She chews gum incessantly. Movement every second.

"It's crazy how much gum I buy," said her mom, Cheryl. "I buy 10 packs at a time, and she blows through it."

Reese has been a starter since her freshman year, when she helped lead Cypress Woods to its only state title. She averaged 22.3 points and 13.2 rebounds this past season, making first-team all-state.

Not even the life-altering news she got a year ago has been able to stop her.

On April 4, 2016, Reese was told she had Type 1 diabetes, a diagnosis that stunned her even though her older sister, Ali, has dealt with the same disease for the past eight years. Cate had hoped to avoid that fate.



"Initially, it was devastating for Cate," Cypress Woods coach Virginia Flores said. "I pulled her into my office and asked her what was getting to her the most about her situation. ... To her, everything and everyone is beatable. But diabetes is not something you defeat. It's something you manage. So when she said, 'This is forever,' my heart just broke for her in that moment."

She's learned a lot about her disease and herself since that day.

"It's made me see life through a different perspective," she said. "You only get one life to live. I'm grateful I can still play. I'm still here."
Story by
Walter Villa @ ESPN.com
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