Junction Deli Metro Jackson Girls Player of the Week 2-16-24

By Robert Wilson

East Rankin Academy’s Liz Stevens was one blocked shot away from a triple double last week against Leake Academy, one of the Top 10 teams in Mississippi and in a big moment, in the semifinals of the MAIS North Class 5A state tournament.

That would be a great game for a senior playing in her last season of high school basketball.

What makes it more remarkable is Stevens is a freshman.

The 6-foot-2 Stevens had 14 points, 14 rebounds and 9 blocked shots to lead East Rankin to a 51-30 victory over Leake.

For her outstanding performance, Stevens has been named the Junction Deli/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Girls Basketball Player of the Week.

Stevens also had 14 points, 14 rebounds and 4 blocked shots in a 58-44 victory over Heritage Academy in the first round and 7 points, 7 rebounds and 7 blocked shots in a 34-31 loss to Rossville, Tenn., Christian in the championship game of North State at Bayou Academy. She shot 60.1 percent from the field for the three games last week.

Stevens is averaging 12.9 points, 10.9 rebounds and 3.2 blocked shots this season for 34-7 East Rankin, which plays Parklane Academy Friday at 2:15 p.m. in the semifinals of the Class 5A state tournament at Copiah Academy.

One more win will tie the East Rankin school record for most wins in a season, set in 2010 when East Rankin coach Brooke Rhodes was a senior and led the Lady Patriots to 35-2 and the MAIS Overall Tournament championship. Now, Rhodes is several ways from matching her accomplishment as a coach and Stevens is a big reason why.

“Liz averaged a double double for us last week in the north state tournament, but she did a lot more than that because she draws attention of so much of the opposing teams’ defensive plan because of her size and the ability to score, which opens up things for her teammates,” Rhodes said. “She is the most unselfish kid I’ve coached. I think that shows in her play. Her play in our two wins in North State shows how disruptive she can be also on the defensive end. I’ve very proud of her and cannot wait to see her get after it this week in the state tournament.”

Stevens plays like a seasoned veteran.

“She has matured so much over the season and the main way is her toughness and grit,” Rhodes said. “That has made her overall game better. There are not many times in games that you watch us play that you can watch and tell she’s a ninth grader. I think that’s because of her wanting to continue to be the best basketball player she can be as her career continues.”

The Leake game last week was an example of her potential.

“Liz did an outstanding job defensively on the Leake post players along with our other post Addison Derrick,” Rhodes said. “She just has such a presence in a game that draws attention, and it opens up so much for our shooters and this was evident in that game.”

Stevens played last year on the varsity, but also split time with the junior varsity. She normaly played four quarters with the junior varsity and then could only play two quarters with the varsity. Stevens averaged 6 points and 7 rebounds.

Stevens is the daughter of Courtney and Andy Stevens. Courtney was an All-American cheerleader at Magee High and Jones County Junior College and received a nursing degree from Mississippi College. Andy played baseball, basketball, and football at Puckett High and baseball at Madison-Ridgeland Academy, Hinds Community College and Mississippi State and works in insurance and owns a cattle farm. Stevens has two siblings. Sister Abigail is a senior at East Rankin and played basketball until her junior year and played softball. She signed with MSU to play softball. Brother Andrew is an eighth grader at East Rankin and plays football, basketball and baseball. Stevens’ great uncle, Lennis, played football at MSU and was the football coach at Puckett High from 1972-2003.

Mississippi Scoreboard selects a girls basketball player from Hinds, Madison, or Rankin counties each week. Coaches can nominate a player by text or call to Robert Wilson at 601.506.2276.