Robert Wilson spent 23 years at The Clarion-Ledger/Jackson Daily News as a sportswriter with more than half of those years covering high school sports, mostly in the Metro Jackson area. He helped choose the All-Metro teams in various sports for more than a decade. Wilson rebirthed this team with the Tatum and Wade/Mississippi Scoreboard All-Metro Jackson Boys and Girls Basketball Teams with 20 players and a Coach and Player of the Year on each team. These are the sixth annual teams. With the help of high school and college coaches, Wilson selected the best players and best coaches for the 2024-2025 season from Hinds, Madison and Rankin Counties. The boys story and teams will later.
By Robert Wilson
Jackson Academy coach Jan Sojourner and Canton junior forward Shamira Morton – the 2025 Tatum and Wade/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Girls Basketball Coach and Player of the Year – are considered the best in their position in school history.
Sojourner – the third winningest girls basketball coach in Mississippi history – led her Lady Raiders to a turnaround season, an improvement of 14 games, after two consecutive losing seasons for the first time in 40 years as she made her retirement tour in her last year of her brilliant 45-year career.
The 6-foot-3 Morton repeated as Metro Jackson Player of the Year and averaged 23.6 points, 14 rebounds and 5.5 blocked shots and led Canton to its second consecutive MHSAA Class 5A runner-up finish this season.
Sojourner lost her leading scorer and rebounder from last year’s team (Gracelynn Carmichael moved to Laurel) but took her returning players and led them to a successful season. JA won 18 of its first 22 games and had two huge wins over defending MAIS Overall Tournament champion East Rankin Academy and defending MAIS Class 6A Jackson Prep when junior guard Jayden Rhymes scored a combined 53 points in the two victories. If not for an ankle injury to Rhymes in the last week of the regular season, JA could have possibly made the Overall tournament where Sojourner won a MAIS record six Overall girls championships.
JA announced before the season that Sojourner had decided that this would be her last year of coaching. The year was filled with numerous tributes for Sojourner at opposing gyms from opposing teams, coaches, and players. JA also had a Jan Sojourner Day on January 28 where about 100 of her former players from Canton Academy, where she was head coach for the first five years of her head coaching career, and JA came to honor her at a pep rally during the day and at a game against Jackson Prep with an estimated 1,200 in attendance at the Raiderdome and played on Jan Sojourner Court, named for the legendary coach on Dec. 10, 2022, at night.
Also, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, named Jan. 28, Coach Jan Sojourner Day, and she will be celebrated every year on that day.
“We all know the accolades, the third winningest ladies high school coach in Mississippi, numerous championships, numerous overall championships, certainly the xs and os were always there,” former longtime JA head of school Peter Jernberg said at a presentation between the girls and boys games on Jan Sojourner Day. “Certainly, game preparation, practice preparation, work ethic, selflessness, team chemistry, defense, her hallmark was there. But there was one cornerstone that permeated her program and influenced this campus, and that was her Christian faith. Her Christian faith came from her family. Mr. Charlie and Mrs. Bobbi Sojourner, her late brother Jimmy, Nan Sojourner who is here with her husband Randy Randall, a dear friend of mine. They were of service, serving others, a family of faith, served the Crystal Springs community, they planted the seeds from generation to generation. We were blessed to have Jan Sojourner on our staff joined by wonderful assistants, the late Sharon Clark, Ronnie Rogers, and now Brittany Ford. That cornerstone permeated the program, but far beyond the wins and losses. It permeated our campus and she planted seeds of faith, fertilized seeds of faith, and she influenced in such a wonderful and positive manner the culture of our campus. Not only to our campus but far beyond as many others have prospered from personal example and personal walk in life. We love her, we are grateful for her, thank you so much for your personal friendship to me. You have been a blessing to me, certainly to the JA family, to the whole independent school family and all over the Southeast.”
“I cannot put into words what it means to me,” said Sojourner on an interview with Bryan Eubank and Tommy Barnette on the Raider Network on Jan Sojourner Day. “I saw some faces I haven’t seen in 20 years. It wasn’t like they just came around the corner. They traveled to get here. I love all these girls. They don’t get it that they taught me thing. I have grown because of them and what they have done for me. That’s what has kept me in it is the relationships and once they graduate seeing what they do and how successful they are. I get to see their babies. They are young women and it’s neat to see how they grow, what they stand for. I keep hearing you have done so much for us, but no, they have done so much for me. I’m so grateful and thankful. I’ve heard Tom Brady say this. Someone asked him why he was so successful. He said it was the right time, it was the right place, and it was the right people. And I will add one more to that, it’s what God did to put me in those situations. You could see God’s hands all over it. It’s incredible. To have them come back and share with me. I don’t have the words to say how much it means to me.”
“What truly sets her apart isn’t just her great record of success — it’s the many lives she’s touched both on and off the court,” JA athletic director Brandt Walker said. “She has been a life coach to so many students and families, showing passion, hard work, and determination in all she does. Her impact on the program is strong and wide-reaching, leaving a lasting mark on generations of students at JA and beyond. Her dedication to our mission is a legacy that will live on long after her time coaching basketball. Coach Sojourner has made a big difference in my life and my family’s, and she is a special part of our love and commitment to JA.”
“Jan’s resume speaks for itself,” said Jackson Prep coach Michael McAnally said. “The win total, the state and Overall tiles, and of course the longevity. I told her that it’s been a true honor to share the floor with her for 19 years for me and the last 11 in this great Prep-JA rivalry. As great as this rivalry has been for 40 plus years, it seemed only fitting and I think it’s a great compliment for Jackson Prep that JA chose this game (on Jan Sojourner Day). It was a beautiful ceremony for a legend of our association and high school girls basketball and we are Jackson Prep, win or lose, were privileged to be a part of the evening.”
“In this era of analytics where numbers don’t lie, Coach Sojourner will be remembered as one of the best ever at coaching the women’s game,” said JA assistant coach Ronnie Rogers, who has been helping Sojourner for 19 seasons. “So many asked me how in the world she got her teams to play so hard. It was her own secret recipe never to be duplicated.”
“I am good at moving on to something else,” Sojourner said on her final home interview with Bryan Eubank and Tommy Barnette on the Raider Network. “Not dwelling on it. Move on and come back to it later. I did look one time because my family was sitting over there in the corner, and at the end, I did look over at them, and I saw (Sojourner’s twin sister) Nan just staring at me. I had to turn away. I said, ‘I can’t do this.’”
“I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to play for Coach Sojourner the past three years,” JA senior guard Aubrey Edmonson said. “She has taught me so much about the game of basketball, but honestly so much more. I have learned self-discipline, responsibility, and leadership skills because of her. Coach Sojourner has always pushed and supported me to be the best player and person I can be. I am thankful for the time she has poured into my life to help make me who I am. She deserves all the recognition and celebration of all the years she has spent coaching and the impact she has made on all those around her.”
“Coach Sojourner instilled in me the invaluable lessons of toughness and hard work, principles that have become deeply ingrained and continue to permeate my professional career,” said Anna Fiser Stephens, who played at JA from 2000-2003, won two Overall titles, and was an assistant for Sojourner from 2009-2015 and helped win one state title. “Her emphasis on pushing past perceived limits and maintaining unwavering dedication has proven essential in navigating challenges. These foundational values have not only shaped my work ethic, but also fostered a resilient and determined approach to every endeavor. I’m incredibly proud to have been a part of the Lady Raiders program, a community that further reinforced these values and shaped me into the professional I am today.”
“It’s honestly hard to put into words the impact that Coach Sojourner had on my life,” said former JA point guard Mollie Blair Baioni, who played from 2009-2013 and is now in her fifth year as the girls basketball coach at Bayou Academy in Cleveland. “She taught me a lot about basketball, but she taught me so much more about life. Coach Sojourner taught me the importance of working hard for something you want, how to be a great teammate and work with others towards a common goal and she instilled mental toughness and how to work through hard times when things aren’t going your way. All while modeling a Christian spirit. These are all things that I have carried with me through all stages of my life.
“Since graduating, we have made it a priority to go eat at least twice a year to catch up and just talk about life. Coach Sojourner genuinely cares about players past and present and takes the extra step to make that known. As a coach, she is always able to get the best out of players because she knew she loved us. Coach Sojourner would push us harder than anyone, but love on us afterwards, which made us want to give her everything we could. As I’ve grown in my coaching career, that is the biggest thing I’ve tried to incorporate – pushing them and being hard on them but letting them know I’m their biggest fan and I’m always there for them for anything. Last year, as my team was making a deep run in the playoffs, she was sending me encouraging messages and supporting me and my team from afar, which meant the world to me.”
What a career it has been for Sojourner, who was a point guard at Copiah Academy and Mississippi College where she was a part of the national championship runner-up team. Sojourner went to Canton Academy for five years as head coach, then to Brandon High as an assistant for three seasons and a graduate assistant at Auburn before taking the job at JA in 1985.
After back-to-back losing seasons to start her career at JA, Sojourner had 21 consecutive winning seasons. She had only five losing seasons (the first two, in 2008-2009 and the two consecutive years before this year) in her 40-year career at JA and had 32 seasons where she won 20 or more games at JA.
Sojourner also had a stretch where she won 87 consecutive games against MAIS competition (2016-2018) and won 41 straight home games (2016-2019).
Sojourner won 10 state championships in 1991, ’92, ’96, 2000, ’11, ’15, ’16, ’18, ’19 and ’21 and a MAIS girls record of six Overall titles in 1992, ’96, 2001, ’02, ’16 and ’17.
She finished with 1,053 wins, third behind Leake Academy’s Doyle Wolverton (1,274 wins from 1975-2014) and Pilow Academy’s Durwin Carpenter (who finished this season with 1,206 wins in his 51st season) in Mississippi history.
Sojourner said two of her coaches led her into coaching.
“I always loved sports and loved having a ball in my hand and enjoyed it. When I started playing basketball in the ninth grade, my first coach was Gerald Austin,” Sojourner said. “He coached me in the ninth grade and in high school. I got a chance to play at MC and my college coach was Ed Nixon. And he is the one where I got my philosophy and what I stand for, as far as on the court and what we try to do. He had a real passion for winning. He was going to guard you and push the ball down the floor quickly. He wanted it to be fun to play. I love that. Those two really influenced me.”
Sojourner finished her final season with a 20-9 record and lost to Madison-Ridgeland Academy in the third-place game in the Class 6A state tournament, one game short of another Overall appearance. She finished her final season with five more wins and nine less losses than last year, and her best record since a 31-3 season three years ago. Sojourner is the last coach to win back-to-back Overall girls titles in 2016 and 2017.
After the loss to MRA to end her brilliant career Sojourner hugged all of the MRA girls and coaches and took one last stroll across the court toward the locker room.
As she did, the estimated crowd of 850 at Hartfield Academy’s Joe Cole Court, rose to their feet and gave Sojourner a two-minute standing ovation to recognize and celebrate her. Sojourner stopped, turned, and gave a wave to the crowd, acknowledging the nice recognition and headed to her team’s locker room, getting hugs by opposing coaches, former players, parents, and administrators along the way.
It was a fitting gesture to Sojourner, who touched some many lives along the way during her remarkable coaching career.
“I told Jan it’s been fun competing against her and wished her well in my own way,” said MRA coach Stephen Force, who has been coaching against Sojourner for the last 23 seasons at MRA and 29 seasons overall. “She has such a legacy with her former players. I hope one day I can be the same type of coach with my players like she was with hers. It was really cool to see everyone standing and recognizing what she has done for girls basketball over the years and to be a part of that special moment.”
Like Sojourner did at JA, Morton is in the process of making history at Canton. She was tremendous as a sophomore and even improved her numbers as a junior.
She averaged 2.5 more points, 0.6 more rebounds, and 0.3 more blocked shots per game, and had 25 double doubles, and five triple doubles, three more double doubles and the same number of triple doubles than last season.
Morton was second in rebounding and blocked shots and third in scoring in Mississippi by MaxPreps this season.
Morton has had season highs of 40 points (also a career high) against Velma Jackson, 21 rebounds against Germantown and 10 blocked shots against Leake Central, Provine, Greenville and Cleveland Central. She has career highs of 23 rebounds against Ridgeland and 12 blocked shots against Cleveland Central and Greenville as a sophomore.
For the second straight year, Morton led Canton to one win from a state championship, this year losing to Pontotoc 41-39 in the MHSAA Class 5A state title game. She had 22 points (10 of 13 from the field), 18 rebounds, 6 blocked shots, 3 assists, and 2 steals.
Morton had 34 points (16 of 19 from the field), 14 rebounds, 7 blocked shots and 2 assists in a 68-33 victory over Lafayette in the first round of the state tournament. She had 15 points, 13 rebounds, 6 blocked shots, 2 assists, and 2 steals in a 59-45 victory over New Hope in the quarterfinals and had 22 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocked shots, and made the the winning shot with 2 seconds to play, in a 42-40 victory over Laurel in the semifinals in a rematch of last year’s state championship game.
Morton led Canton to a 28-6 record and a 16-game winning streak before the state championship loss. Four of Canton’s six losses were to larger class teams (Class 7A Clinton and Class 6A Hancock) and out of state teams (Har-Ber, Ark., and North Little Rock, Ark.). It was the second straight season Morton has led Canton to a school record 28 wins and a 19-1 region record over the past two seasons.
“Shamira continues to amaze me with her work ethic and pure leadership on and off the court,” said Canton coach Melissa Word, who won a state championship in 2013 along her back-to-back state runner-up finishes the past two seasons in her 27 years at Canton. “She has helped her teammates get better through her unselfishness and made them know that they are all vital to the team’s success. Because of the way teams are playing her (double and triple teamed), Shamira became a second point guard on the floor with her passing ability. She didn’t take bad shots and our overall assists have increased because of that.”
“From last year to this year, I have improved tremendously through my body language, mindset, IQ on the court, communication, and skill set,” said Morton, who is playing for the Alabama Southern Stars EYBL AAU team, the same team that former Germantown High All-American Madison Booker, recently named the SEC Player of the Year as a sophomore at Texas, played for while in high school. “I worked very hard in the off season after last year’s season, and it helped me improve my performance this season. I plan to continue to do so for this upcoming season and for the next level.”
Morton’s teammates look to her for leadership, both on the off the court.
“Shamira is the spark that lights up our team,” Canton senior forward Amya Hunter said. “She is the player who leads by example and sets the pace for us all. Her skills, dedication, and unselfishness on and off the court make her not just the best player, but her energy and commitment set the tone and we all follow her lead to greatness.”
“Shamira displays great leadership qualities in the way that she carries herself,” Canton freshman point guard Kylei Rogers said. “She’s a great motivator and could get us pumped up in pressure siutations. Shamira has unmatched work ethic and is always in the gym no matter what’s going on. She’s a great friend off the court. Shamira handles the fame and social media very well and it gives me a great outlook on what the future holds for me.”
“Shamira is an incredible player, and her talent speaks for herself, but what really sets her apart is her work ethic and leadership,” Canton junior guard Dekendra Mitchell said. “She pushes everyone around her to be better, and she’s the kind of teammate you always want on your side.”
“Shamira is a great player,” said Germantown coach Jamie Glasgow, whose coached Madison Booker, the Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Player of the Year for three consecutive seasons before Morton received the award last year. “She has a really good touch around the basket and can hit the midrange shot. This combination makes it difficult to guard her. Shamira is very hard to keep off the boards. She is not only tall, but long. Shamira is the kind of player that you try to game plan to take her away and make her teammates beat you. It is a lot easier said than done.”
“It has been a joy to watch Morton’s game grow and expand over the years,” Northwest Rankin coach Tameika Brown said. “She dominates on both ends of the floor. Morton plays the game the right way, with energy, passion, and selflessly. I’m looking forward to what she adds to her game for her senior year.”
Morton has Division I offers from Alcorn State, Southern Miss, Memphis, SMU, Charlotte, South Alabama, Belmont, Murray State, Arkansas State, Stony Brook, and North Carolina A&T.
She averaged 10.3 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.8 blocked shots and helped Clinton Christian to a 19-15 record and a third-place finish in the MAIS Class 4A state tournament and reached the MAIS Overall Tournament quarterfinals and made fourth team All-Metro Jackson two years ago season as a freshman before transferring to Canton for her sophomore year.
She started as an eighth grader at Canton before transferring to Clinton Christian.
Morton is the daughter of Shameka and Dewayne Morton. Shameka played basketball at Gulfport High and Jefferson Davis Junior College, now Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Dewayne played basketball at Canton High and Holmes CC.
Shamira has three older brothers, Gregory Moore, Donovan Morton and Malachi Morton, and a younger sister, Daliyah Morton. Gregory graduated from Canton High and Mississippi Gulf Coast CC and will graduate next spring from Tennessee State. Donovan graduated from Germantown High and will graduate next spring from Jackson State. Malachi played basketball at Velma Jackson High and Yazoo County High. Daliyah is in the fourth grade at the Canton Arts and Science.
