Want to win a state title? Just beat Leake

Southern Sports & Travel

There’s not much debate about the strength of girls basketball this season, particularly in Class AA where some argue that six teams have a legitimate shot of winning a state championship later this month in Grenada. Leake and Brookhaven have dominated the state title landscape to the tune of winning twelve of the last thirteen state championships and with girls’ basketball rightly taking center stage this season all eyes will be focused on the possibility of a newcomer laying claim to the trophy.

While so much anticipation is directed towards this season’s state tournament it would be appropriate to use several metaphors when describing the task at hand for those squads wishing to hoist that hardware in late February.

“They’re in a league of their own”, “The big enchilada”, “Time to take it to the next level” or “Time to step it up” are a few that come to mind but one metaphor that may be more fitting this season is “The elephant in the room.”

That “elephant in the room” is none other than the Leake Rebelettes who have quietly gone about building a 29-2 record and sit atop the Class AA rankings.

Sometimes context is needed to fully understand Leake basketball.

Tucked away in the countryside of Madden, Mississippi sits arguably the most successful basketball program in the history of the MAIS and the state. There are no fancy restaurants, hotels or golf courses and very little media coverage but what does exist is a pride and knowledge of the game that is matched nowhere else. When teams see Leake take the court they’re not just facing a basketball team, they’re facing a team that extends to the stands and all the great teams that preceded them. They’re facing history and tradition unmatched in the MAIS.

A win over a Doyle Wolverton coached basketball team is something to be proud of whether it’s during the post season or regular season but it’s a feeling not too many have enjoyed over the past 37 years. In his 1,373 games as Leake head coach only 178 times has an opposing coach left the court with the feeling that he or she bested Wolverton. That domination also extends to the girls’ junior varsity program where the numbers are staggering. In 36 years of coaching junior varsity Wolverton has on been on the losing end just 59 times and in an amazing run from 2002-2007 the Leake Rebelettes junior varsity program went 108-0.

Time for another metaphor, remember the “Be like Mike” Gatorade commercials featuring Michael Jordan? Youngsters all over started drinking Gatorade in an attempt to “Be like Mike” but it also helped bring to the forefront the hard work being like Mike would involve.  In the realm of girls’ basketball in the MAIS the metaphor “Be like Leake” would be appropriate and would serve other basketball programs well to study the template that the Leake basketball program has laid out that extends beyond just the varsity level.

In less than one week the North AA State Tournament begins in Batesville and Leake will begin a run at an unprecedented seventh consecutive state title and when their opponents see the Rebelettes take the floor they’re not facing just the 2011/12 Leake squad, they’ll be facing the rich tradition and tenacity that includes such players as Susan Byrd, Kristin Caldwell, Greggina Tadlock and Jenny Wilbanks.

No other team in the MAIS has won more Overall (5) and State (13) titles in the past 26 years and now that the regular season is over Leake sits in a familiar position atop the Class AA rankings. Some have the feeling that with all the attention directed towards others in Class AA the Rebelettes could be just a bit more motivated to remind everyone why they’ve been the dominant power in MAIS girls’ basketball.

So, you want to win a state championship?

All you have to do is beat Leake……….

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Note: Head coach Doyle Wolverton has been voted "Coach of the Year" twenty five times and is the winningest coach (girls' and boys') in the state of Mississippi with 1,195 wins. He is ranked third in the nation in girls' victories needing just 23 wins to move up to 2nd.
>Former Leake Rebelette Susan Byrd (87-90) holds the career scoring record at Leake with 3,187 points. Byrd, who went on to play at Ole Miss, also holds the most points in a season record at Leake with 995. Jenny Wilbanks, who graduated in 2011, fell just four points short of Byrd’s record with 991 in her senior season.
>Current player Hannah Peoples entered this season at #12 on the Leake all-time scoring list and has moved up considerably at this point in the season. Peoples is a junior.