By Robert Wilson
The Prince family is well known around City of Philadelphia and Neshoba County for putting hours upon hours of practicing basketball and their ability to accurately shoot the ball.
Sarah Prince, the second daughter of Philip and Valeria Prince, gave Choctaw Central a first-hand demonstration Friday afternoon.
The Leake Academy 5-foot-8 eighth-grade guard scored 12 points in a five-minute span and Leake held Choctaw Central scoreless in the third quarter and held off Choctaw Central for a 36-30 victory in the Neshoba Central Christmas Class before an estimated 1,500 at Neshoba Central’s gym in the first historic meeting between the two highly successful girls basketball programs at Philadelphia.
Leake, from the MAIS, and Choctaw Central, from the MHSAA, are only 12 miles apart, but had never played each other.
MAIS Class 5A Leake – ranked No. 3 in Mississippi by MaxPreps – improved to 22-0 this season and 7-0 all-time against MHSAA teams.
Leake’s closest game this season was a 42-40 decision to defending MAIS Class 6A state champion Jackson Prep last weekend at Prep in Flowood.
Leake is trying to become the first MAIS girls team to go undefeated since Starkville Academy went 43-0 in 2012-2013.
MHSAA Class 4A Choctaw Central – ranked No. 2 in Mississippi by MaxPreps – dropped to 11-2 and broke an eight-game winning streak. Choctaw Central’s only other loss was a 59-58 decision to defending MHSAA Class 6A state champion Neshoba Central at Neshoba. Choctaw Central had won 29 of its last 30 games over the past two seasons going into Friday.
It was the first time Choctaw Central had lost to a MAIS team in eight games. Choctaw Central was 3-0 against MAIS teams this season, with two wins over 2024 Overall Tournament runner-up and Class 6A runner-up Madison-Ridgeland Academy and one win over Prep.
It looked like Choctaw Central was going to continue its winning ways against a MAIS team when it jumped out to a 12-2 lead after the first quarter. Leake missed its first 10 3-pointers until sophomore Codi Breedlove came off the bench to stop the drought early in the second quarter. Leake outscored Choctaw Central 9-2 to close the gap to 14-11 at halftime.
Then it was time for the Prince show. She sliced through two defenders and drove for a layup, connected on a 3-pointer from the left wing (Leake’s first lead at 16-14 with 5 minutes to play in the third quarter), made a free throw, and made two more consecutive three-pointers for a 23-14 lead with 1 minute to play in the third quarter.
Choctaw Central never recovered. Choctaw ramped up the pressure in the fourth quarter, double teaming and triple teaming the ball, but could not get closer than four points in the quarter. Choctaw closed to 28-24 midway through the fourth quarter, but Leake went on a 7-0 run.
“Sarah (who finished with a game-high 14 points) was able to get free off some great screens for some good looks at 3 and knocked them down,” Leake coach Amanda Hatch said. “She also made a really nice move to get to the rim and finish in transition.
“We got some good looks in the first quarter but couldn’t get them to go. We showed a lot of mental toughness being down 12-2 and getting big defensive stops one right after the other while we got some shots to fall. I’m so proud of our defense and rebounding. We finally got some breathing room in the third quarter and were able to hang on in the fourth. Choctaw Central deserves a lot of credit for their comeback in the fourth – their defensive pressure is really suffocating.”
Prince’s older sister Miriam is a Leake and East Central Community College alumnus who now plays for Division I Louisiana Monroe, older brother Samuel is the leading scorer on the Leake boys team, and younger brother Andrew is a rising star and a fifth grader on Leake’s elementary team. The Prince family lives two miles from the Neshoba Central gym and puts in plenty of practice time at their father’s basketball/recovery ministry (the ARC church and gym) in Philadelphia.
“We realize defense is our foundation,” said Prince, who averages 10.8 points per game this season. “If we can defend, we can stay in games even when shots don’t fall. But we were getting good looks and knew they would drop at some point. Once they started dropping, our defense intensity stayed the same and we had a fun. Coach Hatch says we have a 7 of 11 rule. We always know we can make 7 of 11 at any time so we keep firing. Our team works really hard at shooting in season and out and once you see a few go down, it’s contagious. We held them off (in the fourth quarter) by matching their physicality. (Senior center) Marleigh (Myers, who had nine points) and (junior Addie) Crowe got us a couple of easy ones and survived the push.”
“I have to give Leake a lot of credit,” second-year Choctaw Central coach Elyse Willis said. “We played a really good team today. They exerted significant defensive pressure on us. We were unable to eastabout our offense. We struggled to score. We just didn’t capitalize on our opportunities. We will regroup and begin the second half of the season, focusing on district games.”
Raiyleigh Perry, a 5-9 senior forward, led Choctaw Central with nine points, six in the fourth quarter.
Both teams have been highly successful. Choctaw Central has averaged 29.6 wins a year and won three state championships and has three state runner-up finishes in the past nine seasons. The Lady Warriors have won eight state titles in school history.
Leake has averaged 34.8 wins a year and won one Overall state title, four state championships and has three Overall runner-up finishes in the past seven seasons.
Leake is also home to the winningest girls basketball coach in Mississippi history in Doyle Wolverton, who won 1,249 games, 15 state championships and five Overall titles from 1975-2013.
Hatch has a 370-47 record (an amazing 88.7 percent winning percentage), six state titles, one Overall championship and three Overall runner-up finishes in her 11th season at Leake. She also was a player on Leake’s last undefeated team, which finished 46-0 during the 1998-99 season.
Willis was an assistant for 14 seasons at Choctaw Central and an assistant at East Central Community College for two seasons before coming back to Choctaw Central as head coach. Willis, who played at Neshoba Central and East Central CC, replaced Bill Smith, who retired after 40 years of coaching, the last 10 at Choctaw Central where he won three state championships.
