By Robert Wilson
Just like when Lauren Morrow played basketball for Forest Hill High, East Rankin Academy, and Pearl River Community College, she has been going full speed in her new position as women’s basketball coach at Hinds Community College.
Morrow was named coach on April 21, and already has signed 15 players to get ready for the upcoming season.
Morrow comes to Hinds from Florence High where she was the head coach for the last seven seasons, averaging 22.7 wins over the past six seasons, with a 73.1 winning percentage. Her only losing season was the first one and she took over a program that had only won six games in the previous three seasons. Morrow took Florence to the state semifinals twice and the quarterfinals three times.
Morrow replaced interim coach Alisa Thomas at Hinds.
“Coach Morrow’s passion, experience and ability to connect with student-athletes makes her a great fit for our program,” Hinds CC Director of Athletics Nathan Werremeyer said. “We’re confident she will build on our tradition and take us to the next level.”
Morrow was interested in making a move to college coaching.
“I had been asking questions and telling some coach friends about my desire to go to the next level,” said Morrow, who was an assistant at Hazlehurst High and an assistant coach at Brandon High before going to Florence. “One of them had a Hinds connection and let me know the job was open and encouraged me to apply. After about an hour of asking him questions and driving on the campus to see if it felt right, I applied. I let my administration at Florence know I had applied but wasn’t sure if I would get an interview. But I did! A few days after the first interview, I was chosen for a second interview.”
It was a difficult season for Morrow because she had poured so much into building Florence’s program and invested into her players and built strong relationships with them.
“Leaving Florence was hard for more than one reason,” Morrow said. “I love the people and my kids, but it was also a program where I was blessed to see it go from struggle to triumph. It taught me so many lessons that confirmed the things I believed in were indeed important and an integral part of success. Leaving a really good team and some of my favorite kids didn’t make it any easier.”
Morrow – who graduated from Mississippi College, now Mississippi Christian University – knows about the history of Hinds basketball program, which practices and plays its home games on the Utica campus in West Hinds County.
“Hinds is a program with so much legacy,” Morrow said. “Between Utica Junior College, Hinds AHS, and Hinds CC, it has been a place where basketball is loved and cherished. I want to bring back excitement to the women’s program while upholding the traditions and culture of Utica. I know there’s a community of people who want to see both of those things happen and that’s what I want our program to be about.”
Morrow is all about having local kids in the program and building great chemistry to compete for state, regional and national titles. She knows Mississippi junior college women’s basketball is one of the toughest leagues in the country.
There are five coaches or players from Mississippi community colleges in the National Junior College Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, including former Co-Lin coach Gwyn Young, who is one of five junior colleges coaches in the country to win at least 1,000 games in their careers. Jones County Junior College has had the most recent success, reaching the national semifinals in 2022, and the national quarterfinals in 2023 and 2016.
“My goal for the program is to make it a place where our local kids don’t have to go hours away to play for a great program,” said Morrow, whose assistant is Lanier High and Jackson State alumnus Keshunna Luckett.. “I want to compete for Region 23 championships and eventually national championships. You start that the same way you start any major turn around which is with a strong foundation of kids who will buy in, compete on and off the court, excel in the classroom, and strive to make the community better. With these types of kids you can turn a program quickly. I believe I was able to sign those types of kids in year one. Mississippi juco is an incredibly tough league. It’s one of the best leagues in the country. The coaches do a great job and the players are continually getting better. With the transfer portal making high school seniors less desirable for division I programs right away, Mississippi juco is a great route for kids to get to their ultimate goal.”
Morrow knows coaching in college is different than high schools and is up for the challenge.
“The obvious difference in junior college than high school is you can choose your own players, but they have to choose you too,” Morrow said. “Other than that, there’s a lot to do getting kids ready for college. College applications, financial aid, housing to name a few. Once they’re on campus, they become your responsibility. You are their home away from home. So I think there’s a lot on your plate even outside of X’s and O’s or strength and conditioning.”
Faith Quick – who is one of the best players Dixon has coached in his career – led Florence to 25-8 record and a MHSAA Class 6A state semifinal finish in 2023-24. Quick, who was a starter at Florence since the eighth grade, is now playing for Mississippi College.
“Coach taught me to not suppress my feelings and instead control them,” Quick said. “For a long time, I used to hold everything in and just let it out all at one time. She taught me to speak my mind and address situations calmly. Not only did it change the way I felt mentally but spiritually as well. God sent her at the right place and time. I was a ticking bomb ready to explode.”
“Playing for Coach for three years shaped me into the person I am today,” said Lizzy Mayne, who played for Morrow at Florence from 2019 to 2022 and now is an eighth grade science teacher at Brandon Middle School. “As a timid freshman, I never imagined I’d become a leader, but she believed in me long before I believed in myself. She pushed me to step outside my comfort zone, taught my resilience through adversity, and showed me what true leadership looks like. Because of her, I found my passion for teaching and coaching. The impact she had on me is something I will carry me forever, and I hope one day I can be that person for my own students and athletes.”
“All players want to be good, but Lauren has always been willing to put in the extra work along with a competitive spirit to be good,” said Madison St. Joseph coach Tommy Groves, who coached Morrow her junior and senior years at Forest Hill. “She has always been successful and no doubt she will continue her success at Hinds CC. As a coach, Lauren truly loves and cares about her players, a trait she learned from her parents, who were both educators. In return, her players work very hard for her. Hinds is lucky to have her.”
“Lauren was that high school player that you knew from Day One could be a coach,” said Grant Thompson, who coached Morrow her freshman and sophomore years at East Rankin Academy. “She was a student of the game with an incredible desire to improve each and every day. She came with a killer instinct every time she stepped on the floor, practice or a game. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to coach her and Hinds Community College is very fortunate to have her serve as their next head coach.”
Morrow has two returning players, sophomore guard Jordyn Ford and sophomore forward Jayla Snow, who combined for 20 starts and 8.9 points per game on last year’s team, which finished 5-21 overall and 2-12 in league play. Hinds CC hasn’t had a winning season since the 2017-2018 season.
She has signed several from the Metro Jackson area like Forest Hill alumnus and Jones County Junior College transfer K’Lylah Stovall, Madison Central alumnus Alilyiah Morris, Brookhaven High alumnus Kema Roberts, Murrah High alumnus Jocemin Duren, Puckett High alumnus Caili Mcafee and Choctaw Central High alumnus and Copiah-Lincoln CC transfer Kylinn Bell.
Morrow is the daughter of Jeff and the late Phyllis Morrow. Jeff played football and baseball at Forest Hill High, and baseball at Hinds CC and Mississippi College. Jeff was a head coach at Kosciusko (baseball), Provine (baseball), Wingfield (football and baseball) and Forest Hill (baseball). Phyllis graduated from Bryan Adams High in Dallas and North Texas State. She was Physical Education teacher at Whitten and Peeples Middle Schools. Morrow has a brother, Ryne, who played basketball and baseball at East Rankin Academy and graduate from East Central Community College. She has two children, Gavin, 12, and Lucy, 7.
“My mom and dad were always a big inspiration for me,” Morrow said. “They both taught and coached in Jackson Public Schools for the majority of my childhood. It was rare that a night wasn’t spent at the ball field or a summer day wasn’t spent shooting in the gym waiting on my dad to get done with football workouts. It was almost inevitable that I coach and teach. My brother is a manger at Aplos and his people skills never cease to amaze me. He can do fifty things at once and still put a smile on his customers’ faces. My children Gavin and Lucy are growing up very similar to the way I did. Gavin has always loved other things besides sports, but Lucy wants to be at every game, every practice, every everything. Gavin has just recently developed a real excitement for the game when he met Coach Dyllan Taylor at Pearl (Middle School). He reminds me how coaches can still influence kids in a way parents sometimes can’t reach.”
