By Robert Wilson
Brookhaven Academy tied a Mississippi record for most 3-pointers in a high school girls basketball game and sophomore point guard Ella Smith set a MAIS record for most 3-pointers in game in a 69-10 victory over Centreville Academy Friday night in Centreville.
Brookhaven tied the Mississippi record set by Leake Academy, who made 20 3 pointers in an 87-40 victory over Memphis St. Agnes just two weeks ago. Smith made Brookhaven Academy’s 20th 3-pointer with 1 minute, 5 seconds to play in the game. The Lady Cougars missed the next three 3-pointers.
Smith made 10 of 21 shots from 3-point range and scored a career-high 33 points.
Jessica Roberson of Ingomar High holds the Mississippi record with 14 3-pointers in a game in 2001 when she scored 67 points.
The national team record is held by Guy-Perkins High from Arkansas, which made 34 against Little Rock Walnut Valley Christian Nov. 4, 1999.
The second half was played with a running clock since Brookhaven Academy led by more than 35 points at halftime.
Brookhaven Academy made 20 of 58 3-point attempts (34.5 percent). Junior guard Reagan Fortenberry made 4, eighth grade guard Anne Rylea Thurman made 3, senior forward and Mississippi College signee Lillie Gates made 2 and senior guard Ella Brown made 1.
“Ella was in such a groove and shot the ball with great confidence,” Brookhaven Academy coach Ron Kessler said. “As our point guard, she is typically our floor general and facilitates our offense for us. Ella has developed into a great triple threat point guard for our team. She loves to penetrate, can find the open man in traffic, and has really developed her outside shooting as was on display Friday night.”
Smith has made 25 3s this season for Brookhaven Academy, which has made 111 in 15 games, an average of 7.4 per game.
“We are a team that shoots a whole lot in practice every day,” Kessler said. “We also work very hard in games night in and night out to put our players in great shooting positions and opportunities. We ask all our players to be comfortable shooting the ball from all over the court. Our 6-foot senior twin post players (Mississippi College signees Emma and Lillie Gates) have added that dimension to their game, which is such an added threat for our team. In addition, Anne Rylea leads our team in making 3s (32 of 80, 40 percent) this season.”
Brookhaven Academy is one of the contenders for the 5A state championship and compete for the Overall Tournament title. Brookhaven Academy finished 33-5 and lost to Leake in the first round of the state tournament last season.
