By Robert Wilson
East Rankin Academy’s Liz Stevens didn’t have her best game when the Lady Patriots played district rival Leake Academy in a showdown of undefeated teams earlier this season.
Stevens had only four points and Leake ended defending MAIS Overall Tournament champion East Rankin’s 22-game winning streak with a 48-37 victory.
But Stevens had a terrific game with 12 points, 17 rebounds, 2 blocked shots and 1 steal in the rematch and led East Rankin to a 43-39 victory to give Leake its first loss of the season after 25 consecutive wins.
For her outstanding performance in a huge game, Stevens has been named the Junction Deli/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Girls Basketball Player of the Week.
In addition to her game against Leake last week, Stevens also had 16 points, 16 rebounds, 6 blocked shots and 2 steals in a 49-45 victory over Lamar School.
Stevens – a member of the Tatum and Wade/Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Metro Jackson Elite 11 Team – is averaging 15.3 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots this season for 27-2 East Rankin.
“I thought Liz played really hard and well in our two big district games for us where she was sometimes drawing two and three defenders,” East Rankin coach Brooke Rhodes said. “She has really stepped up her rebounding in the last couple of weeks and that has been big for our team. Liz is a special player and so fun to coach, the best is that she is just a sophomore so it’s going to be fun to see her continue to grow and develop the next couple of years. She gets a lot of attention for teams that we play, and she has handled that so well.”
This wasn’t the first time Stevens played well against Leake. She had 14 points, 14 rebounds, and 9 blocked shots in a 51-30 victory over Leake in the North Class 5A semifinals last season as a freshman.
Stevens averaged 12.9 points and 10.9 rebounds and helped East Rankin to a school record 39 wins (eight losses), a MAIS Class 5A runner-up finish and the MAIS Overall Tournament championship and was a third team selection on the All-Metro Jackson team last season as a freshman.
She had 16 points and 14 rebounds in the Overall semifinal win over Central Hinds and 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots in the championship win over MRA.
Stevens was instrumental in the final minutes of the championship game. She made a layup with 2 minutes, 48 seconds to play for a 39-38 East Rankin lead, then got a steal with 56 seconds to play set up the winning layup by Addison Brown with 15 seconds to play.
Stevens is the daughter of Courtney and Andy Stevens. Courtney was an All-American cheerleader at Magee High and Jones County Junior College and received a nursing degree from Mississippi College. Andy played baseball, basketball, and football at Puckett High and baseball at Madison-Ridgeland Academy, Hinds Community College and Mississippi State and works in insurance and owns a cattle farm. Stevens has two siblings. Sister Abigail played basketball and softball at East Rankin and is a freshman on MSU’s softball team this year. Brother Andrew is a freshman at East Rankin and plays football, basketball, and baseball. Stevens’ great uncle, Lennis, played football at MSU and was the football coach at Puckett High from 1972-2003.
Mississippi Scoreboard selects a girls basketball player from Hinds, Madison, or Rankin counties each week. Coaches can nominate a player by text or call to Robert Wilson at 601.506.2276.
WEEK ONE: Shamira Morton, Canton
WEEK TWO: Alya Benson, Germantown
WEEK THREE: Karley Robinson, Madison Central
WEEK FOUR: Anna Morgan Anderson, MRA
WEEK FIVE: Jayden Rhymes, Jackson Academy
WEEK SIX: Shamira Morton, Canton
