By Robert Wilson
MADDEN – The Leake Academy girls sent a very loud message to the rest of the basketball teams in the MAIS who thought that Leake might have lost their edge while not being challenged in their Class 3A district competition.
Just ask East Rankin Academy and coach Brooke Rhodes.
Leake stormed out of a one-point deficit at halftime and had an impressive second half, scoring the first 11 points of the third quarter, and ran away with a 54-35 victory over one of the best teams in Mississippi Saturday afternoon before an estimated 450 at Leake’s Joe F. Shephard Gym.
Leake – ranked No. 15 in Mississippi and No. 1 in MAIS Class 3A by MaxPreps – improved to 25-4 and won its seventh straight game since losing 45-43 to MHSAA Class 4A state championship contender Tishomingo County – ranked No. 4 in Mississippi by MaxPreps – in the Neshoba Central Christmas Classic Dec. 30 at East Central Community College. The Rebelettes also avenged a 61-51 loss to East Rankin Nov. 4 in Pelahatchie.
East Rankin – ranked No. 17 in Mississippi and No. 3 in MAIS Class 4A by MaxPreps – dropped to 22-5 and broke an eight game winning streak. The Lady Patriots’ last loss was a 52-49 decision at Oak Forest, La., Academy Dec. 15.
Leake – the favorite to win MAIS Class 3A and one of the contenders to win the Overall Tournament championship – didn’t have a big enough enrollment to be among the 20 teams in MAIS biggest class (Class 4A). Therefore, many of Leake’s games are against less talented teams.
Leake had won by an average of 45 points – the closest game was 37 points – in its last six games before Saturday’s matchup against East Rankin.
Depsite the lack of competition this month, Leake was ready for East Rankin, especially in the second half.
East Rankin’s 6-foot-2 junior forward Liz Stevens – a member of the Tatum and Wade/Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Metro Jackson Elite 11 Team – made back to back rebound buckets in the last seconds to give East Rankin a 23-22 halftime lead.
But after that, it was all Leake. Leake scored the first 11 points in the third quarter for a 33-23 lead before East Rankin’s Hayden Faulkner made a layup with 25 seconds to play in the third quarter for the Lady Patriots’ first points of the second half.
Leake continued to pour it on in the fourth quarter and led by as much as 21 points, 48-27, on a 3-pointer by senior Addie Crowe with 3:30 to play in the fourth quarter.
Senior guard Jenna Allen led Leake with 15 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, 3 rebounds and 3 steals. Allen is first in Mississippi with 71 3-pointers, the second consecutive year she leads the state in that category. Freshman guard Sarah Prince – who scored her 1,000th point in her career Saturday – had 12 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot, junior forward Kylee Boykin had 10 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots and Crowe had 9 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 blocked shot.
Leake has won six Overall Tournament titles and 22 state championships in its school history and is looking for its first state title since 2022 and its first Overall appearance since 2023.
Leake coach Amanda Hatch – who has been a part of seven state titles and two Overall championships as a player and coach – is ready to get to back to the winner’s circle. She was a junior on the 1999 Overall championship team, which finished 46-0, and she has led Leake to six state titles and one Overall crown in her 12th season as head coach. Hatch has a 404-57 record at Leake, an amazing 87.6 winning percentage, and 522 wins overall in her 17th season, the first five years at Prep.
“I’m so incredibly proud of my girls,” Hatch said. “Our effort and execution was amazing. All 13 teammates worked so hard in practice to prepare for this game and then to perform the way they did is just awesome. Our defense was superb the second half, and once we were able to pair that with some big time buckets, we were able to build a lead and hold on to finish strong against a very talented team.”
“I thought we had a great game plan,” said Allen, who scored the 1,000th point of her career earlier the month. “We knew what needed to be done, and we did it. This week Coach Hatch really decided to push us in practice to prepare us for this game. We practiced our defense, stamina, and execution. During the game, I started off hesitating to shoot the three, but Coach Hatch told me, ‘You have to shoot the ball every time you get it,’ during a timeout. So I knew what needed to be done. We all know our roles and this game especially we all individually played our part. I think by how well we played tonight just shows that we can compete with anyone in the MAIS.”
Meanwhile, East Rankin coach Brooke Rhodes was try to regain the momentum her team had coming into Saturday. Since the Oak Forest loss, East Rankin had won its eight straight games by an average of 36.3 points, and no game closer than 32 points. The 35 points was the least number of points East Rankin has scored against an MAIS team since losing to Madison-Ridgeland Academy 42-34 in the quarterfinals of the Overall last season.
“Leake played great and inspired and wanted it more than we did,” said Rhodes, who led East Rankin to its first Overall championship in school history as a player in 2010 and its second Overall title in 2024 as its head coach. “They punched and we didn’t punch back. Defensively, we gave up too many three balls and they did a great job of taking away what we do like to do defensively. I still am proud of my group and know we will bounce back and keep working because that’s what we do. A game like this was good for us.”
Stevens led East Rankin with 11 points, nine in the first half.
