By Robert Wilson
MADISON – On the night where Madison-Ridgeland Academy girls basketball coach Stephen Force was recognized for winning his 800th career game earlier this month, Force honored his close friend.
Force wore a MRA red visor to honor MRA boys basketball coach Richard Duease – the winningest basketball coach in Mississippi history, the second winningest boys basketball coach in the country and a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame – on Richard Duease Appreciation Night here at MRA’s Duease Hall, named after the legendary coach.
Duease has worn a visor for the past several years in games and Force wanted to honor him in that way.
“Coach Duease is like a brother to me,” Force said. “We have spent a lot of time together for last 24 years. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to come here and fill his shoes for the girls coach. I owe him for that. He taught me about basketball, but also important off the floor how to be patient and how to talk to parents. We spend time every together almost every day. We both had grandchildren the same year. We talk all the time about that. We eat lunch together two or three times a week. We have taken countless bus rides together.”
Force – with his wife Laurie, daughters Lanie and Macie (who plays on MRA’s high school basketball team), and granddaughter Hazel in attendance – was presented a basketball with 800 wins on it by three of Force’s players on his first Overall Tournament championship team at MRA in 2007 – Lauren Host Stratton, Clancy Piazza Longrear, and Libby Haskins Crosswhite – before MRA’s girls game against Jackson Prep.
With MRA’s 67-17 victory over Prep Friday night before an estimated 750, Force has 803 wins (663 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. Carpenter has 1,239 victories.
MRA – ranked No. 10 in Mississippi and No. 1 in MAIS Class 4A by MaxPreps – improved to 26-4. All four losses are to MHSAA teams ranked in the Top 10, No. 1 Biloxi, No. 4 Tishomingo County, No. 6 Neshoba Central and No. 7 Choctaw Central.
Prep – ranked No. 34 in Mississippi and No. 5 in MAIS Class 4A – dropped to 17-10 and broke a six-game winning streak. Prep hadn’t lost since a 46-29 decision to MHSAA Class 7A Brandon Dec. 30 in the Community Bank/Mississippi Scoreboard Christmas Classic. Prep hadn’t lost to an MAIS team since a 51-31 decision to MRA Dec. 11 at Prep.
Senior guard-forward and West Florida signee Presley Hughes, senior forward Annie Toler and junior guard Anna Morgan Anderson combined for 38 points, and all played about two and half quarters in the win Friday night. Hughes was five for five from the field, four of four from 3-point range, in the first half for her team-high 14 points. Toler had 13 points and Anderson – a member of the Tatum and Wade/Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Metro Jackson Elite 11 Team – had 11 points, and led the team with six assists and four steals. All 13 players who dressed out scored.
Prep was led by 6-foot-3 senior guard-forward and Southern Miss signee Meg Barbour – a member of the Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Preseason Elite 11 Team – with seven points, all in the first half.
Prep coach Michael McAnally has won 680 games (467 girls and 213 boys) to go along with two Overall titles, two Overall runner-up finishes and six state titles in 25 seasons, the last 12 at Prep. He is one of two coaches in MAIS history to win Overall Tournament girls championships with two different teams (East Rankin Academy in 2010 and Prep in 2022).
McAnally and Force have had many battles against each other over the past two decades and are good friends.
“First and foremost, Stephen is a great guy and a great friend,” McAnally said. “We have been friends of over 20 years and I cherish our friendship. We’ve enjoyed fierce battles on the court and many good times away from basketball. We have the type of relationship where we often talk the night before we play each other or the morning of the game. We still laugh at the fact that his daughter would fuss at him for taking my call the night before we are scheduled to play. She would tell him, ‘Dad, he’s trying to steal our plays.’ Furthermore, he’s a great basketball coach – the championships and the 800 wins speak to that.”
