By Robert Wilson
Jackson Academy was the last MAIS girls basketball team to accomplish back to back Overall Tournament championships when Jan Sojourner coached her Lady Raiders to two consecutive Overall titles in 2016 and 2017.
JA has won Overall titles back-to-back twice (also in 2001 and 2002), and Starkville Academy, Pillow Academy and Leake Academy have done it once since Jackson Prep won four straight from 1979-1982.
Now, East Rankin Academy and coach Brooke Rhodes are trying to become the next team to repeat as Overall girls champions.
The Lady Patriots are off to a great start, winning their first 17 games, including Tuesday night’s 65-45 victory over Class 5A and district rival Simpson Academy.
East Rankin has won by average of 24.6 points this season. Their closest game was a 1-point win over Class 6A Jackson Prep in the Madison Madness Classic at Madison-Ridgeland Academy. East Rankin has had only four games closer than 20 points with seven wins by more than 30 points.
“I think the main reason we have been so successful is because we are all so unselfish,” Rhodes said. “They care about winning, which is so fun because we have several different people that have the ability to be leading scorers any given night. They have really bought into the concept that our defensive effort will ignite our offensive game. We play so much better offensively when we play hard on the defensive end.”
East Rankin has a balanced attack, led by a couple of players on the Tatum and Wade/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Preseason Elite 11 Team. Liz Stevens, a 6-foot-3 sophomore center who already Division I offers from Southern Miss and Appalachian State, averages 16.2 points and 14.1 rebounds this season. Holly Jackson, a 5-6 junior guard, averages 12.9 points and 3.2 assists. Jackson, who has verbally committed to play softball at Copiah-Lincoln Community College, scored her 1,000th career point earlier this season.
Jackson averaged 12.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists and shot 39 percent from 3-point range and Stevens averaged 12.9 points and 10.9 rebounds to lead East Rankin to a school record 39 wins, the Overall title and a Class 5A runner-up finish last season.
Rhodes has named the PriorityOne/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Coach of the Year. She also won an Overall title as a player at East Rankin in 2010, the school’s first Overall championship. Rhodes – considered one of the best players in MAIS history – scored 2,568 career points and led East Rankin to a 35-2 record as a senior in 2010.
“Liz has really improved her effort this year, which has made her so much better. She has a lot of God-given ability and great size, but she also has the want to to get better every day and wants to be coached hard to be the best she can,” said Rhodes, who is assisted by her father, Keith Rhodes. “Holly is such a fun and special player to get to coach. She is special in the fact that she can score at all three levels, she can get to the rim, shoot the midrange, but she also has incredible range from 3.”
Stevens and Jackson are complimented by several other players who made the team go. Senior guard Presley Thompson, junior guard Ansley Miller and sophomore forward Elizabeth Thrash complete the starting lineup. Thompson, Miller and Thrash are all averaging 8.1 points per game.
“Presley does a fantastic job of running our offense and getting us into what we need to be in,” Rhodes said. “She can score and can distribute and find the open person when she needs to. Elizabeth has really stepped up and taken on a huge role for this group and has elevated her offensive game a lot, by the moves she has worked to develop when in the low block. Ansley is one of the best defenders I have coached. She has really worked on her offensive game and that has showed because she has hit huge shots for us.”
Junior guard Hannah Jackson, a Co-Lin softball commitment, and sophomore Brynlee Davis are the top contributors off the bench.
“Hannah will come in and hit big shots for us,” Rhodes said. “I think one place she has really improved is her defense. She gets a ton of deflections because of her length and how hard she plays. Brynlee is finding more and more minutes. She always comes in and makes a difference either by hitting a 3 or getting an offensive rebound and putback. It is going to be fun to continue to watch her grow.”
East Rankin has a long way to go reach its goal. After Friday’s game with Park Place Christian Academy, East Rankin has a huge game at its district rival Leake next Thursday in Madden, in a preview of a possible Class 5A state championship and Overall championship. Leake is also undefeated like East Rankin.
“In order to win a state (and Overall) championship, we just have to take one game at a time and not look ahead,” Rhodes said. “We still have a lot of basketball ahead and we just have to focus on the process and not the end result.”
Sojourner – the third winningest girls basketball coach in Mississippi history with more than 1,000 wins – is the only coach in MAIS history to win back-to-back Overall girls titles twice.
The 2002 team and the 2017 team had experience and talent. The 2002 team was led by seniors Elizabeth Studdard, Rebekah Flemming and Cameron Vaughn and the 2017 team by seniors Conley Chinn, Emily McNair and Lauran Sheriff.
Sojourner has some advice for Rhodes and East Rankin.
“We had a lot of experience coming back on both Overall teams that won it again,” Jackson Academy coach Jan Sojourner said. “The players have to be motivated and mentally tough and want to work through it. It’s a lot easier to upset someone and win one, but it’s a lot harder to be on top and stay there. It’s a mindset. Once you’ve done it and loved it, the girls have to make the sacrifice to do it again. I was fortunate to have some great group of girls. When you are on top, teams are seeking you out and want to beat you. But your players need to be strong mentally to offset that challenge and continue to win. They must buy into that winning feeling. It takes a lot of work to do that.”
