By Robert Wilson
East Rankin Academy’s 6-foot-2 junior forward Liz Stevens scored the 2,000th point of her career this week against Bayou Academy in the first round of the MAIS North Class 4A Tournament.
If she continues to score like she did Saturday, 3,000 points might possible before she finishes her career next season.
Stevens scored 32 points to lead the East Rankin girls to an 85-56 victory over host Pillow Academy for the MAIS North Class 4A state championship before an estimated 1,100 at a packed Stribling gym/Durwin Carpenter Court at Pillow in Greenwood.
East Rankin – ranked No. 20 in Mississippi and No. 3 in MAIS Class 4A by MaxPreps – improved to 28-5, won for the 14th time in the last 15 games and will play defending MAIS Overall Tournament champion Parklane Academy, a 43-36 loser to Simpson in the South state championship, Wednesday afternoon in the Division I state tournament at Jackson Prep in Flowood.
Pillow – ranked No. 26 in Mississippi and No. 4 in MAIS Class 4A – dropped to 21-6 and will play Simpson Wednesday afternoon in the other Division I semifinal.
The winners of Wednesday’s semifinals play for the championship Saturday. The losers of the semifinals play for third place. All four teams advance to the Overall Tournament at Mississippi College in Clinton.
It was the first meeting between the two teams since East Rankin’s 67-56 victory over Pillow in the MAIS Class 5A semifinals at Pillow last season. The two teams have not played in the regular season since Pillow swept East Rankin in a two-game series two years ago when East Rankin won the Overall championship.
East Rankin was dominating after the first quarter Saturday as the Lady Patriots scored 27 points in the second quarter to take a 42-24 halftime lead. They led 68-42 after three quarters.
Stevens – who has offers from Southern Miss, Appalachian State, Mississippi College and William Carey – was unstoppable Saturday. She made 12 of 14 shots from the field, 2 from 2 from 3-point range, and 6 from 7 from the free throw line with 14 rebounds, 4 blocked shots and 2 assists. Stevens was six points shy of her career high of 38 points against Madison St. Joseph.
For the three tournament wins this week, Stevens averaged 25 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 2.3 blocked shots. Over the past six games, she is averaging 24.7 points and 13.7 rebounds. Stevens had a career-high 24 rebounds against Hartfield Academy Jan. 20 and had seven blocked shots against Starkville Academy Jan. 23.
After Saturday, Stevens is averaging 23.1 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 2.5 blocked shots this season.
Stevens’ coach – Brooke Rhodes – put up impressive numbers also at East Rankin. Considered one of the best guards in MAIS history, Rhodes scored a school record 2,568 points in her high school career and played at Delta State and Southern Miss before being an assistant coach at Central Arkansas, Jones College, Presbyterian College, and Western Carolina for a combined six years before deciding to come home five years ago to coach her alma mater. She led East Rankin to a school record 39 victories – breaking the mark of 35 when she was a senior in 2010 – and won the Overall Tournament championship two years ago.
Rhodes become the third in MAIS history to win a girls Overall title as a player and coach. Amy Carroll Denley did it for Kirk Academy in 1988 as player and won Overall for her alma mater as a coach in 2018 and Amanda Gulley Hatch did it as a player at Leake Academy in 1999 and for her alma mater as a coach in 2021.
Now, Rhodes has her sights set on winning another state title and Overall championship. If East Rankin plays like it did Saturday, the Lady Patriots have a good shot of winning it all like in 2024.
It was the most scored by a Rhodes led team since she arrived at East Rankin and probably the most in school history.
“I was proud of how hard we fought and played as a team,” Rhodes said. “Pillow is a tough team and always plays hard s we knew we were going to have to play our best. Liz had a dominating perforance, but a lot of that is because her teammates look for her and get her the ball. She finished well and was strong with the ball. I was proud of how senior Ansley Miller was confident offensively and hit some big shots for us. (Senior guard) Holly (Jackson) handled their pressure well and made our offense go. It was a total team effort and I hope this week sort of got us in a good rhythm.”
“Coach Rhodes told us before the game that needed to be intentional with every pass, shot and rebound and we did just that,” Stevens said. “We played with grit and effort right from the start, and didn’t let up. We were able to turn our disciplined defense into a high scoring offense. We hustled to get every loose ball, which allowed us to stay ahead for most of the game. The momentum just kept building. The atmosphere was great. It was fun playing in front of a packed and passionate crowd.”
In addition to Stevens, Miller had 19 points and Jackson had 17 points.
“Ansley and Holly played like seniors and I challenged both of them and (senior guard) Hannah (Jackson) to have no regrets after this season and to control what they can control and that’s how hard they play and then everything else will fail into place,” Rhodes said. “Hannah, Holly, and Ansley have done so much for this program and they have led us so well this season.”
“We knew going into the game that we were going to have to play hard since we were playing Pillow at Pillow,” Miller said. “It’s never an easy place to play. As a team, we got good stops by adjusting to different defenses, which got things going on the offensive side. We played unselfishly as as team to get good shots inside and on the outside. We are looking forward to the competition next week and are excited to keep playing.”
“We had a good defensive plan going into the game, which helped spark our offense,” Holly Jackson said. “We play very unselfish, and are always looking for the open person. There are some really good teams in D1 and we’re looking forward to the challenge. It should be fun.”
Pillow, which had only one senior starter (Izzy Hodges, daughter of Pillow assistant coach Mignon Hodges), has had a great season and gets to play two more tournaments.
And Pillow coach Durwin Carpenter – the winningest active girls basketball coach in Mississippi and the second winningest in Mississippi history – can continue to get closer to passing Leake Academy coach Doyle Wolverton, who won 1,249 from 1975-2013.
Carpenter has 1,227 career victories in his 52nd season. He has won 870 games in his 32nd season at Pillow and won 357 games in 20 seasons at Central Holmes Academy. The Grenada Rundle High, Holmes Community College and Delta State alumnus has won four MAIS Overall championships and 10 state titles. His last Overall title was in 2020, his last state title in 2004. Carpenter has averaged 21.6 wins over his career.
Hodges led Pillow Saturday with 16 points and four steals. Junior guard Madeline Carroll had 15 points and five steals. Junior forward JonHartley Slater had 11 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists and Sophomore Miriam Jane Rodgers had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
“East Rankin played an outstanding game,” Carpenter said. “They shot 69 percent from the floor and 40 percent from the three point line. We struggled to finish at times and didn’t guard as well as we could have. We will this behind us and focus on getting ready for next week.”
“We are looking forward to next week,” Rhodes said. “I hope we can take this same momentum into the games. We will be playing some very very good basketball teams that are playing hot right now. And I know Liz, Ansley and Holly will help us bring it because we have been there before and they are all ready to play for each other. This team loves each other more than any team maybe that I’ve coached at East Rankin and we have had a few bumps in the along the way and they have all taken hard coaching and used it to continue to work and get better.”
