BEL-NOR — The battles continue to this day.
Read about the St. Louis area's top high school girls basketball players and their accomplishments throughout the 2023-24 season.
Yet the winner still remains a mystery.
Incarnate Word Academy junior point guard Nevaeh Caffey thoroughly enjoys the one-on-one basketball contests with her father Johnathan in the driveway of their Warrenton home.
Neveah used to take a back seat to Johnathan, who played at Warrenton High and Moberly Area Community College.
Now, she has caught up — and maybe even surpassed her father — despite giving away three or four inches in the clashes.
"He's just mad that I've passed him up," said Neveah, who stands 5-foot-10.
Not so fast says Johnathan, who can still go to the rack at age 39.
"She's been scared of me for years," he joked.
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There's no debate that Nevaeh has no fear when she gets on the court for the Red Knights.
The Post-Dispatch All-Metro girls basketball player of the year, Caffey was the driving force behind the IWA machine that rolled to its seventh successive state championship in March with a 53-43 win over Kickapoo.
The Red Knights have won 131 successive games, the longest current streak in the nation.
And Nevaeh, which is heaven spelled backwards, has been helping the engine purr the last two seasons.
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Incarnate Word junior guard Nevaeh Caffey, the Post-Dispatch All-Metro girls basketball player of the year, averaged a team-leading 14 points per game. Caffey has verbally committed to continue her career at Indiana University.
Caffey already has committed to attend Indiana University, which is coming off a 26-6 season and appearance in the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament's Sweet 16.
But she still has one more year left at the private Bel-Nor school — which means another year of drilling fall away jumpers against her father.
"She's never really caught up to me," Johnathan said.
Explained Nevaeh, "I passed him (skill-wise) a couple of years ago."
The dispute might continue over who rules in Warren County.
Yet there is no denying Nevaeh is one of the top high school players in the entire Midwest.
"She got the keys, and we just love letting her go," IWA interim coach Tanner Wilkenson said.
Caffey averaged a team-best 14 points per game as the Red Knights steamrolled their way to a 31-0 record. They won their games by an average of 30 points and recorded 27 double-digit triumphs.
A standout in the classroom as well, Caffey's eagle-eye shooting made her almost impossible to stop. She hit 49 percent from the field (154-of-314) and amazingly shot even better from 3-point range (38-of-77, 49.4 percent)
In addition, Caffey was second on the team in steals.
Most importantly, she served as the glue that held the tight-knit team together.
"She starts our offense going," IWA senior Kaylynn Janes said. "And she does all the little things for us too."
Caffey's stats are impressive, but they don't paint the whole picture.
She possesses an uncanny work ethic, consistently leading the team in practice. Wilkenson said the coaching staff keeps track of who leads in hustle work, running activities and 3-on-3 matches during workouts.
"Every week, it's her on top," Wilkenson said. "She never slows down."
That leader-by-example style endears Caffey to her teammates, who almost always look to her for big baskets during crunch time.
Her value could be seen in the state championship game at Mizzou Arena. She finished with just seven points, tying for her lowest output of the campaign. But she found other ways to contribute including pulling down a team-best 10 rebounds, her top effort of the season. She threw in four steals to further put her stamp on the contest.
"Every year I've gotten better and that's what I'm most proud of," Caffey said. "Being better than I was the year before is important to me."
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Incarnate Word's Nevaeh Caffey drives to the hoop during the Class 6 girls basketball state championship game against Kickapoo on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.
Caffey did not play much as a freshman. She sat behind standout point guard Saniah Tyler, the 2022 All-Metro player of the year who is now playing at the University of Kentucky.
A standout at every level in grade school and junior high, Caffey was disappointed with her time on the bench.
"You always want to play and when you don't, it's frustrating," Caffey said. "I thought I was better and should have been getting more playing time."
Caffey, somewhat disgruntled, even considered moving on to another school.
But coach Dan Rolfes spoke with her in the offseason and explained she would get a chance to run the offense next season.
Caffey relished the challenge and has been the ringleader of the attack ever since.
Johnathan put a basketball in Nevaeh's hand at age 3 and after a few months she was dribbling around the house. With his guidance, and that of her mother Kelly Hilligardt, Caffey quickly became proficient in all aspects of the game.
By sixth grade, it was apparent that Caffey was something special.
Her drive and work ethic has sharpened her already razor-sharp skills.
Caffey is an ardent gamer. Minecraft is her favorite. She will compete online with other competitors across the country whenever she needs a break from basketball.
She wins most of her computer battles as well.
"I don't like to lose — at anything," Caffey said.
Wilkenson has seen that desire first-hand.
"When she sets her mind on doing something, she's going to do it," Wilkenson said. "There's nothing that's going to get in her way."
Read about the St. Louis area's top high school girls basketball players and their accomplishments throughout the 2023-24 season.