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By Robert Wilson
Photos by Chris Todd
Maggie Proffitt knows about winning. She has been a star basketball player in high school, college and professionally.
And she has the making of becoming a star coach in her first year as a head coach at Hartfield Academy.
Her Lady Hawks won their fourth straight game with a surprising, 41-16 victory over defending MAIS Class 5A state champion Brookhaven Academy Thursday afternoon in the Jackson Prep Christmas Classic at Prep in Flowood.
Hartfield improved to 9-6. Brookhaven Academy dropped to 16-6.
Proffitt was a key starter on the last undefeated girls basketball team in the MAIS, Starkville Academy’s 43-0 team in 2012-2013, who many consider the best girls team in MAIS history.
She was a three-time all-conference player at the Division I Central Arkansas, MVP of the Southland Conference Tournament as a senior and finished second in school history and fourth in conference history in made 3-pointers.
Then Proffitt played professionally in Germany and averaged 15.9 points per game.
After a year as graduate assistant at Louisiana Tech, an assistant coach at Ouachita Baptist in Arkansas for a year and an assistant at Mississippi College for three years, Proffitt was named the head coach at Hartfield, replacing Mark Alexander, now assistant boys and girls coach at Heritage Academy.
Proffitt only inherited one starter of last year, 5-foot-10 senior Kaytlin Elliott, from last year’s team, which finished 27-7. And she was dealing like Proffitt used to Thursday. Elliott drove through the Brookhaven Academy defense time and time again and scored 22 points, outscoring Brookhaven by herself. She had 12 points in the third quarter to push a 12-9 halftime Hartfield lead to 28-12 going into the fourth quarter. Elliott tied her career high of 22 against Oxford High earlier this season. She made 9 of 13 shots from the field and 4 of 4 from the free throw line and had 12 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 assist.
“Kaitlyn had a great game, and she has really stepped it up and been consistent for us all year,” Proffitt said. “Her length and athleticism are a hard matchup for a lot of teams, and she just makes plays happen. Defensively, her and (senior) Vail Wartes have been instrumental in what we want to do and the tempo we want to play at.”
Elliott is also a standout soccer player and signed with Division I Belmont this week. The versatile Elliott, who played several positions, helped Hartfield to state championships as a sophomore and junior and to the semifinals as a senior this fall.
“We are so excited for Kaitlyn has found a home (in Belmont for soccer),” Proffitt said. “She is the definition of a true competitor and I know she will have a great career there.”
Elliott’s play against Brookhaven Academy was like a hat trick in soccer. She scored six points in the first quarter to led Hartfield to quick 8-2 lead.
“This team has been a lot of fun to coach so far this season,” Proffitt said. “We lost a lot of key pieces from a really good Hartfield team last year and I’ve been looking for this group to figure out what their identity is going to be.”
Proffitt does have some valuable experience on the bench with her this season. Veteran MAIS boys basketball coach Bill Ball – who won 599 games in 22 career seasons, including 529 wins, four state titles and two Overall crowns in 18 seasons at JA – is in his first year as an assistant coach after stepping down as Hartfield’s head boys coach after last season.
“I was extremely proud of the way our team came out and competed against a very good Brookhaven Academy team,” Proffitt said. “We knew that we were going to have a solid game defensively and be able to locate shooters on the perimeter as well as control the boards. Kaitlyn, Mary Carolyn Sensing, and Vail have done a tremendous job of setting the temp for this group and I never question their effort. We have a lot of learn and there is always room for improvement, but this was a great win for the program and for these girls.”
After losing four straight games, including the last one to Proffitt’s alma mater Starkville Academy, Hartfield defeated Oak Forest Academy, Clinton Christian Academy, Wayne Academy and Brookhaven Academy for its four-game winning streak. Next up is MHSAA Class 5A New Hope next Thursday in the New Hope Classic in Columbus.
Brookhaven Academy – which returns three starters from last year’s 41-4 team, which won the Class 5A state title and reached the Overall semifinals – had won eight of its last nine games before losing to Prep and Hartfield on back-to-back nights in the Prep Christmas Classic.
“Hartfield outplayed us in every aspect of the game,” Brookhaven Academy coach Ron Kessler said. “We have got to be better defensively and value the basketball more. Trusting each other and playing together is something that we did so easily last season; it just hasn’t clicked for this team. The Christmas break couldn’t have come at a better time. Hopefully, the time off will allow us to push the reset button and get back to playing better basketball as a team.”
