There may not have been any hardware brought home this year — breaking a two-year streak of local teams winning state titles — but there were still plenty of award-worthy performances in the area.
At Pillow Academy, 28th-year girls basketball head coach Durwin Carpenter put together one of his most impressive seasons in his legendary career. The 2021-22 Commonwealth Coach of the Year, Carpenter seamlessly replaced all five senior starters from last season, leading the Lady Mustangs past rival Leake Academy in the North State championship before a first-round upset ended their promising postseason run early in the state tournament.
Pillow’s leading scorer, senior guard Madeline Mattox, added ball-handling and driving skills to her strong shooting arsenal that allowed her to score effectively at all three levels. Mattox, the 2021-22 Commonwealth Player of the Year, helped the Lady Mustangs finish 29-5, a mark that tied for the most victories since 2007-08 and upped Carpenter’s career win total to 1,128, the second-most among active coaches in the country.
At Greenwood High, senior JT Lawrence couldn’t cap off his high school career with a third straight state title after transferring back from Delta Streets Academy, but the 6-foot guard did engineer a turnaround for the Bulldogs. Along with junior shooting guard Javeon Smith, a fellow DSA transfer, Lawrence provided an offensive spark that helped GHS (18-10) improve its record significantly from last season’s disappointing 6-11 mark.
Building on a junior campaign in which the speedster torched MAIS competition and became the state’s top scorer, the back-to-back Commonwealth Player of the Year recipient proved he could still ball against elite public schools by putting up 22 points, 2.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game. On Senior Night, he dropped a game-high 27 points to lift the Bulldogs past Region 3-4A foe Clarksdale, which lost in the state finals to Raymond. GHS saw its season end in the second round of the state tournament at New Albany.
“From my freshman year to my senior year, it’s been major growth,” said Lawrence, who barely played for the Bulldogs as a freshman before winning a state title as a sophomore serving as a role player. “This was a good year for me and my teammates, but it could have been better. We didn’t play to our fullest potentials, and as a leader I take fault in that.”
Considering how much Lawrence has improved throughout his high school career, 12th-year GHS head coach Fredric Ford believes his go-to scorer is just scratching the surface of his potential on the court.
“JT has a great basketball talent, but what makes him more impressive is that he is nowhere near his ceiling,” Ford said.
Mattox’s development at Pillow has also been striking over the past four years. After tearing her ACL as a freshman, she served as a solid substitute off the bench for two years before breaking out. Mattox poured in a career-high 39 points against Winona Christian early in the season, setting the tone for a senior campaign in which she averaged 14 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
“Madeline has always been able to shoot the three well, but over the past summer she worked extremely hard on ball-handling and driving to the basket,” Carpenter said. “This made her very hard to guard. It has been a privilege to coach her and watch her develop into an outstanding player.”
Adding layers to her game was one thing, but building the confidence to take on the top scoring role was another challenge.
“I was able to watch the players before me and learn from them, which helped me develop my game even more,” Mattox said. “This season, I really had to develop the confidence in myself to shoot the ball.
“One of my teammates after every shot I took would say, ‘Next shot,’” she added. “Knowing my teammates and coaches had confidence in me to shoot the ball helped me step up my game even more this season. I would not be where I am if it wasn’t for them.”
Both Mattox and Lawrence aspire to play in college but are still undecided on their future plans.
- Contact Riley Overend at 662-581-7237 or roverend@gwcommonwealth.com. @GWC_Sports on Twitter.
