By Robert Wilson
Germantown’s Madison Booker didn’t win a MHSAA girls basketball state championship for her school, but she did let the rest of Class 6A know the Lady Mavs are contender for the state title and will be back for the next two seasons until she finishes her high school career.
The 6-foot sophomore guard averaged 20.5 points, 12 rebounds and 3 steals in the Class 6A state semifinals and finals last week at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson.
For her outstanding performance, Booker has been named the Performance Therapy/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Girls Basketball Player of the Week for the third time this season.
Booker – rated No. 4 in the nation by Prep Girls Hoops, No. 5 by Blue Star Basketball and No. 9 by ESPN Hoopsgurlz in her class – showed off her skills in the Girls State Tournament last week.
Booker had a game-high 24 points with 16 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals in a 55-32 victory over Harrison Central in the semifinals. She started both halves by hitting a 3-pointer and finished with 10 points in the fourth quarter. Booker had 17 points, 8 rebounds and a game-high 4 steals in a 66-62 loss to two-time defending 6A state champion Olive Branch in the championship game. It was the first time in the school’s 10-year history it had made it to the championship game.
Booker averaged 18.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.6 blocked shots for Germantown, which finished 13-4 this season. She has been offered by Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Jackson State, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and South Florida. Booker’s father, Carlos, is 6-10 and started at center for Southern Miss in the late 1990s.
“Madison had a great postseason,” Germantown coach Jamie Glasgow said. “She really stepped up and played big for us in the games that mattered most. Madison showed a lot of growth in the mental aspect of the game this season. She was every team’s main focus and she showed a lot of maturity dealing with it. I’m really proud of how she played this season and I know she’s just going to continue to get better and better.”
