By Robert Wilson
Madison-Ridgeland Academy girls basketball coach Stephen Force considers junior guard Presley Hughes the best defender in his 29-year coaching career.
The 6-foot Hughes has improved her offensive game this season and had one of the biggest scoring nights of her career last week in a huge game.
Hughes had a team-high 17 points (two short of her career high) and made six of six from the free throw line in the last two minutes of the game and led MRA to a 42-34 victory over defending Overall Tournament champion East Rankin Academy in the first round of the Overall at Mississippi College in Clinton in a matchup between then two of the top 13 ranked teams in Mississippi by MaxPreps.
For her outstanding performance, Hughes has been named the Junction Deli/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Girls Basketball Player of the Week.
Hughes’ defense also helped MRA hold East Rankin to its lowest point total of the season and break its 15-game winning streak and avenge a 56-39 loss to East Rankin on Nov. 6, the worst loss for MRA this season.
Hughes averaged 6.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2 steals and shot 77 percent from the free throw line and helped MRA to a 31-8 season and an Overall runner-up finish. She has been a part of a team went to three straight Overall championship games (winning as a sophomore) and three 30-win seasons and played in 12 Overall games in her career. She averaged 8.3 points and shot 82 percent from the free throw line in the last 10 games.
“Presley is a great defensive player, but also she has been taking the ball to the basket more lately and showing more physicality,” said Force, who has won 777 games, 637 at MRA and three Overall titles, four Overall runners-up finishes and three state championships in his 29-year coaching career. “We talk about what shots she needs to take and have patience and good shot selection. She has improved in that area. She also has been able to get to the free throw better and she’s an excellent free throw shooter. Presley has been working hard in the weight room and she’s a year older and showing more maturity. She does a good job of studying the player she is going to guard and has a good knowledge of the game and follows through with our game plan.”
Hughes is the daughter of Whit and Shelley Hughes. Whit won two Overall basketball championships under Coach Les Triplett and one state baseball championship under Coach Mike Kinnison at Jackson Prep. He played five years of basketball and two years of baseball at Mississippi State. He was the sixth man on the 1996 Final Four team at MSU. Shelley was the starting point guard for Coach Jan Sojourner in the 1992 Overall championship team at Jackson Academy. Hughes’ brother, Phillip, played basketball at MRA and basketball at Tennessee-Martin and now at Delta State. Her brother, Pax, played football and baseball at MRA, played football at Southern Miss and now at Nicholls State. Hughes’ great grandfather, John Hughes, played football, basketball, and baseball at MSU in the 1940s. Hughes’ grandfather, Craig Foshee, played basketball, baseball and golf at William Carey and Millsaps.
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.
WEEK ONE: Shamira Morton, Canton
WEEK TWO: Alya Benson, Germantown
WEEK THREE: Karley Robinson, Madison Central
WEEK FOUR: Anna Morgan Anderson, MRA
WEEK FIVE: Jayden Rhymes, Jackson Academy
WEEK SIX: Shamira Morton, Canton
WEEK SEVEN: Liz Stevens, East Rankin Academy
WEEK EIGHT: Madison Jones, Terry
WEEK NINE: Jahanna “JoJo” Wilson, Callaway
WEEK TEN: Malia McCelleis, Northwest Rankin
WEEK ELEVEN: Meg Barbour, Jackson Prep
