By Robert Wilson
Longtime Jackson Academy coach Jan Sojourner – the third winningest girls basketball coach in Mississippi history – has won many big games during her fabulous coaching career, including winning 10 MAIS state championships and a record six Overall Tournament titles.
But there are probably only a handful of times that Sojourner has won as big a non-conference game as the one she did Saturday afternoon at JA’s Raiderdome, which has her name written on the court in front of the JA bench.
Especially a win with this many combined points by both teams, possibly the most in her career, in addition with two individual scoring performances by her players in the same game.
Junior guards Aubrey Chambers and Jayden Rhymes scored 25 points each to lead sizzling hot JA to a 70-63 victory over defending Overall champion East Rankin Academy.
JA improved to 12-3 and is off its best start since the Lady Raiders finished 31-3, won the Class 5A state tournament and had an Overall semifinal finish in the 2020-2021 season.
East Rankin dropped to 21-2 with its only other loss to Class 5A state title contender and undefeated Leake Academy. East Rankin is trying to become the first girls MAIS team to win back-to-back Overall titles since Sojourner did it with JA in 2016 and 2017.
East Rankin was ranked No. 7 and JA No. 30 in Mississippi by MaxPreps going into Saturday’s game.
Sojourner, who is in her final season of coaching, won her 1,045th game in her 45-year career with 939 wins in 40 seasons at JA. She is the third overall and second winningest active girls basketball coach in Mississippi history behind Leake Academy’s Doyle Wolverton (who finished coaching in 2013) and Pillow Academy’s Durwin Carpenter (who is still coaching).
And if Sojourner’s team plays like it did Saturday afternoon, especially on the offensive end, she might be picking another state and Overall championship as she rides into the sunset of retirement.
Chambers, who tied a career high with her 25 points, made 11 of 17 shots from the field, 1 of 4 from 3-point range, with 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals off the bench. Rhymes, who set a career high with her 25 points, made 9 of 16 shots from the field, 3 of 6 from 3-point range, with 2 rebounds and 2 assists.
Countless times during the game, both Chambers and Rhymes drove down the lane and finished off the moves with a made layup and also connected on several 3s and mid-range jumpers to lead the Lady Raiders in a rare scoring display for a team coached by Sojourner, who is known for her stingy defensive teams over the years.
The game was tied at 16-16 after one quarter, 33-33 at halftime and East Rankin led 51-49 after three quarters.
East Rankin junior forward Ansley Miller hit a 3-pointer on its first possession of the fourth quarter take a 54-49 lead and it appeared the Lady Patriots might pull away. But JA went on a 13-0 run to take a 62-54 lead on a Rhymes 3-pointer with 4 minutes to play. East Rankin’s Miller made a layup to cut the lead to 62-56 with 2:40 to play, ending a five-minute scoring drought for the Lady Patriots.
Chambers and Rhymes combined for 17 of JA’s 21 points in the fourth quarter. Chambers (9 points) and Rhymes (1 point) combined for 10 points in JA’s last game, a 49-44 win over Hamilton (La.) Christian last week.
“Both of those girls (Chambers and Rhymes) have a lot of potential,” Sojourner said. “It is a matter of them coming out every game and playing with unbelievable effort. I need to see type of effort in practice as well. You do it in practice, you will do it in the games.”
The duo shot a combined 60.6 percent from the field in the game. JA shot 56.3 percent from the field – one of its best shooting games all season – and made six 3-pointers. Meanwhile, East Rankin cooled off in the fourth quarter and made only 4 of 14 shots from the field (28.6 percent) and missed seven consecutive shots during JA’s run after shooting 55 percent from the field for the first three quarters.
“If you are making shots, it helps so much,” Sojourner said. “If you are not making them, it puts so much pressure on your defense. We did a much better job on 3 (junior guard Holly Jackson) in the second half (Jackson had 15 points in the first half and six in the third quarter, and none in the fourth quarter). Our post player (5-foot-10 sophomore forward and East Rankin transfer Mylee Maurer) did a pretty good job on 10 (6-3 sophomore forward Liz Stevens), battling and wearing her down a little bit (Maurer had nine rebounds and five steals). I saw some mental toughness from our girls during the game today. That’s what it takes to be a good team.”
In addition to Chambers and Rhymes, senior forward Belle Shoemaker had 8 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists and junior guard Ella King had eight points and two steals.
Sojourner hopes this win will kickstart her team to success in the difficult Class 6A schedule. Defending 6A state champion Jackson Prep and 2024 Overall runner-up Madison-Ridgeland Academy are the two favorites going into conference play.
JA had a 5-15 conference record over the past two seasons, but Saturday’s win gives Sojourner a good feeling going into this week.
“This was a great win, but Tuesday (first conference game against Hartfield Academy at home) is what we’ve been working for since the summer,” Sojourner said. “Now, let’s see what we can do. Enjoy this win. It’s great. It’s a great steppingstone to that. Our girls played with confidence. But when someone kicks us in the face and keeps on, what will we do? We’ve got some 6A teams that will do that. I was extremely proud of how our girls battled today and I hope we can continue that.”
Jackson and Stevens – both members of the Tatum and Wade/Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Metro Jackson Team – combined for 40 points (Jackson 21 and Stevens 19).
Jackson, who is verbally committed to play softball at Copiah-Lincoln Community College, made 9 of 19 shots from the field. She hit a sizzling 75 percent from the field (6 of 8 shots) in the first half and scored 11 points in the second quarter.
Stevens, who has offers from Division I Southern Miss and Appalachian State, made 8 of 12 shots from field with 10 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.
Miller had 10 points, six in the fourth quarter, and four steals. Senior point guard Presley Thompson had a career-high 10 assists.
It was the 14th time this season East Rankin has scored more than 60 points. It was the most points allowed by East Rankin since a 70-47 loss to Pillow two years ago.
“JA played really well. Kudos to them,” said fourth-year East Rankin coach Brooke Rhodes, last year’s PriorityOne Bank/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Coach of the Year after leading her Lady Patriots to a school record 39 wins and the second Overall title in school history (Rhodes was a senior and led East Rankin to its first Overall crown in 2010), one of three women to ever win an Overall as a player and a coach. “We gave up too many points. It’s tough to give 70 points and win a game. I think offensively we played pretty well at times.”
Rhodes was disappointed in the loss, but knows it is only one game in a long season and hopes her team can learn a valuable lesson from it.
“I just have to remember we lost eight games last year and still won the Overall championship so it’s okay,” said Rhodes, who played at Southern Miss and Delta State and was a college assistant coach for six seasons before coming home to coach at her alma mater. “I think we got JA’s best game. They just outplayed us. I think this game teaches us a lot about everyday challenges and that’s why I love it so much. Sometimes other teams and people are just better than you on a given day and that should be us work harder and I think that’s exactly what it will do for our group. They are resilient and will be better because of this game. It will help us learn that you just keep putting your head down and keep working. Sometimes losing feels like the end of the world to us as competitors, but it’s not. Failures make you better, especially when you learn from them and get better.”
