By Robert Wilson
FLOWOOD – First-year Callaway coach Dionne Wells got her first signature victory in her 15-game head high school coaching career over one of the best MAIS girls basketball teams in Mississippi with one of the best players in the South in her age group.
Wells led her team to an impressive, 51-47 victory over Parklane Academy – a team with four starters back from an MAIS Overall Tournament championship team, including 5-foot-11 Carlyle Carruth, one of the best players in the South in the Class of 2028 – Tuesday afternoon in the Mississippi Scoreboard/Community Bank Classic before an estimated 250 at Prep’s gym.
Callaway – ranked No. 26 in Mississippi and No. 5 in MHSAA Class 6A by MaxPreps – improved to 12-3 and bounced back from its 47-32 loss to MAIS Class 4A Jackson Prep in Monday’s tournament game.
Parklane – ranked No. 28 in Mississippi and No. 4 in MAIS Class 4A by MaxPreps – dropped to 13-4 and lost its second straight close game in two days to an MHSAA team. MHSAA Class 7A Brandon edged Parklane 46-41 Monday in the tournament.
Callaway’s highest ranked win this season before Tuesday was a 60-53 victory over defending MHSAA Class 1A state champion Biggersville, ranked No. 66 in Mississippi by MaxPreps.
Callaway jumped out to an early lead against Parklane, but unlike against Prep Monday, continued to hold the lead the entire game. The Lady Chargers led 14-12 after one quarter, 28-20 at halftime, and 42-36 after three quarters.
Callaway starter, 6-foot senior forward Shelbie Walker, picked up her fifth foul with 5 minutes, 20 seconds to play, but the Lady Chargers kept making big shots to keep the lead.
Callaway senior guard Trinity Cook – who scored 16 points and was the Legacy Theater Flowood Player of the Game – made a rebound basket for a 49-42 lead with 1:20 to play.
Parklane made one last charge as Carruth connected on a 3-pointer from the right wing, then senior guard and East Texas Baptist commitment Zoe Alford made a 10 foot jumper to cut the lead to 49-47 with 31.8 seconds to play. Parklane got the ball back with a chance to win but missed two 3-point attempts, then Cook made two free throws with 2.6 seconds other than play to clinch the victory.
Wells – who played at Callaway and Rust College – had been a part of two championships leading Powell Middle School to the Jackson Public Schools title last season and being an assistant coach on Callaway’s MHSAA Class 6A state title last season. She was head coach at Powell for five years and assistant at Callaway for four years.
Now, she is winning as a head coach at the high school level. She has two returning starters from last year’s team and continuing to win. The Lady Chargers have now won 28 of their last 30 games, dating back to winning the last 15 last season.
“I developed a strong foundation for the game that continues to shape my coaching philosophy today when I played at Callaway,” Wells said. “This was a hard fought game on both sides. We just focused on getting good looks, trusting our spacing, and staying patient late. The girls did a great executing and staying confident in the fourth, especially under pressure. Trinity nailed down two big free throws to seal the game.”
“I believe we were able to win the game by playing together as a team and encouraging each other after turnovers,” said Cook, who made We made our free throws when it mattered most at the end and avoided fouling late in the game. This win will help prepare us for district competition because it showed us the importance of protecting a lead when we are ahead and improving our defensive rotations to prevent opponents from getting second-chance points.”
In addition to Cook’s 16 points, 6-3 senior center Layla Ba had 10 points.
Carruth – who has an offer from Division I Southern Miss and many other D-I schools showing interest – finished with 19 points, nine in the first quarter, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. She had an outstanding tournament, finishing with 37 points, 14 rebounds, and 9 assists in two games and showed why Division I schools are interested in her talent.
Alford had 14 points, 12 in the second half, and 2 assists. Anna Sawyer, a senior forward and a Southern Miss softball signee, had eight points and six rebounds.
Parklane had won 37 of its last 40 games going into this week. It is the first time Parklane had lost two straight games since the 2023-2024 season.
“We were disappointed that our shots didn’t fall down the stretch, but very proud of how our girls battled today,” said Parklane coach Vicki Rutland, who played at Forest Hill High, played softball and was a cheerleader at Delta State and has coached basketball, softball and has been an athletic director at Lumberton, West Marion, Northeast Jones, and Lawrence County before coming to Parklane five years ago. “Callaway’s size really hurt us – if they got the ball anywhere around the paint, it was going in. I give them credit for finishing some tough shots. Ultimately, they made a few more than we did but we put ourselves in position to win and that’s all you can hope for. Callaway was well coached, long, athletic, and had a deep bench.”
Despite the losses, Rutland felt the tournament helped them get ready for the rest of the season and loved the competition.
“We needed to play teams like theirs and Brandon going into conference play way more than we needed two more 20 or 30 point Ws,” Rutland said. “This tournament was so timely for us and showed us that we have enough grit to make another playoff run.”
