By Robert Wilson
CLINTON – Madison-Ridgeland Academy girls basketball coach Stephen Force gave a passionate speech in an interview with Lee Adams on the Patriot Sports Network livestream on Feb. 7, two days after his Lady Patriots lost to Simpson in the MAIS Class 4A South State semifinals after having a 24-point lead.
In so many words, Force had a message to the rest of the MAIS teams that his team wasn’t going to let up, was going to stay aggressive, and his team was going to be hard to beat the rest of the way in the playoffs.
Fast forward to Monday afternoon, and MRA has done just that. The Lady Patriots have stormed through the playoffs, winning three games by an average of 29.3 points and took another step to winning the Overall championship with another double digit victory, defeating East Rankin Academy 57-43 in the semifinals in battle between two of the Top 12 rated teams in Mississippi before an estimated 1,800 at Mississippi College’s A.E. Wood Coliseum/Mike Jones Court.
And now one team stands in the way between MRA and finishing its mission, the same team that prompted Force’s emotional delivery earlier this month.
Class 4A, Division II champion MRA – ranked No. 5 in Mississippi and No. 1 in MAIS by MaxPreps – improved to 35-5 and meets Class 4A, Division I champion Simpson Academy Tuesday at 6 p.m. Simpson defeated Jackson Academy 57-46 in Monday’s other semifinal.
Class 4A, Division I runner-up East Rankin – ranked No. 12 in Mississippi and No. 3 in the MAIS – finished 31-7 and lost to MRA in both meetings this season. East Rankin lost to MRA 45-41 in the first game of the season Oct. 28 in the Madison Madness Preseason Classic at MRA.
MRA had beaten Simpson twice in the regular season, 46-27 Jan. 13 at MRA and 56-55 in overtime Jan. 30 at Simpson before the South State loss when the Lady Patriots led by 24 points late in the second quarter before Simpson made its incredible comeback and finished when senior guard Jayda Smith made a 5-foot jumper in the lane with 11 seconds to play for the 48-46 victory.
But since that day, MRA has taken care of business.
“ti was a tough loss for us,” said Force, who has 812 wins (672 at MRA) along with three Overall titles, four Overall runner-up finishes and three state championships in his 30-year coaching career, the last 24 years at MRA and the first six at Starkville Academy. Force is second behind Pillow coach Durwin Carpenter in girls basketball victories among active MAIS coaches. “Simpson outplayed us in the second half. They manhandled us. We quit being aggressive, they just beat us down the stretch. But that wasn’t our last game. We still had an opportunity to get to Overall and win an Overall championship. That was our goal. It doesn’t matter who it is against. It just happens to be Simpson. We are in the same place we were in last year. You have to give yourself a chance and we have that now.”
MRA was on its way to winning the Overall last season against Parklane Academy, but the same thing that happened against Simpson at South State this year, MRA lost an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter and lost 45-42.
MRA made sure there wasn’t a repeat in Monday’s semifinals. MRA got ahead early, and led 19-10 after the first quarter, 26-18 at halftime, and 36-29 after three quarters.
MRA had balanced scoring with five players with eight points or more and had 20 assists in 23 made shots, an amazing stat of teamwork. Senior forward Annie Toler had 14 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds, junior guard AnnaKate Woodward had 12 points and three assists, senior guard Gabby Gray had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists, junior guard Anna Morgan Anderson had 8 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds and senior guard/forward and West Florida signee Presley Hughes had 8 points, 12 rebounds and 2 assists.
Force was especially proud of his team’s defensive play, especially for Hughes on her defense of East Rankin’s talented 6-foot-2 junior forward Liz Stevens, who came in averaging 23 points and 12 rebounds this season and was dominating opponents in the playoffs. She had 28 points and 21 rebounds in the Overall quarterfinal win over Leake Academy.
“You wouldn’t think when a player gets 12 points and 14 rebounds you didn’t do a good job defensively, but Liz was averaging 23 and 18. Presley played fantastic against her,” Force said. “She was motivated. Presley normally gets the best power player and she did a great job and also had eight points and 12 rebounds. Anna Morgan held (East Rankin senior guard) Holly Jackson to five points and Anna Morgan had a complete game. Anne Toler was phenomenal today and went 6 for 6 from the field. Gabby played great and was super aggressive and took advantage of what the defense gave her. AK was driving it to the rim and made four layups. We averaged holding opponents to 27.3 percent shooting and we did a good job again today. We played hard the whole game. We continued to be aggressive. We didn’t let off the gas. We didn’t play not to lose. It’s a mental game. Hopefully tomorrow we will be mentally tough enough to weather the storm whether we are ahead or behind and play well.”
“The loss to Simpson woke all of us up,” Anderson said. “It’s helped motivate us to get the win today and make it back to the finals. We stuck to our game plan that we had for East Rankin and fought to the very end.”
In addition to Stevens’ 12 points and 14 rebounds, senior guard Hannah Jackson had 15 points, and made 5 of 11 shots from 3-point range.
East Rankin coach Brooke Rhodes – who is considered one of the best shooters in MAIS history and led East Rankin to its first Overall championship in 2010 as a player and then led the Lady Patriots to another Overall title in 2024 as their coach – was hoping to win another Overall crown this season.
Rhodes is one of three players who have won a girls Overall as a player and a 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.
“MRA is a great team and really they outplayed us,” Rhodes said. “They created some matchup problems for us on the defensive end and they also did a great job of taking away what we like to do offensively. When we did get some opens looks, we missed some that we normally make, but that is how it goes sometimes. I’m proud of this group. They have done so much for the ERA Lady Patriot basketball program and they are special to me and always will be. For the three seniors we are losing, they have given this program their all and have two state championships to hang their hat on and they have left a lasting mark on ERA girls basketball, not only by their play, bu also by who they are as people and for that I will always be thankful to them. For the returners for next year, I am excited to get to see how we will work to get ready for next year.”
The top returner is Stevens, who has offers from Southern Miss, Appalachian State, Mississippi College and William Carey, and should pick up even more after her outstanding season this year. She was one of the most dominating players in Mississippi this season.
“I think Liz grew up so much through this season,” Rhodes said. “She scored right at 800 points and most of the time those points were against double teams and triple teams. She became more physical and more confident and it is going to be so much fun to see how she grows in this offseason to continue to get better for her senior year.”
