Mississippi didn’t have much luck against neighboring Alabama in the 33rd annual Alabama/Mississippi All-Star Basketball Classic on Saturday in Mobile, Ala., at the Mitchell Center on the campus of the University of South Alabama.
Home-standing Alabama swept both games, with the girls taking a 88-74 decision while the ‘Bama boys won 91-72.
The Alabam girls now lead the all-time series 19-14, while the Alabama boys have an 18-15 advantage including two straight wins in this annual event.
Senior point guard Reniya Kelly of Hoover High School is a University of North Carolina signee as well as the Gatorade Alabama Girls’ Player of the year. And she certainly proved herself worthy of all of those accolades on Saturday afternoon.
The future Lady Tar Heel Kelly tallied a team-high 23 points but she also chipped in eight rebounds, five assists and a steal in leading Alabama to the comfortable win.
The host team was deadly from long-range and that was a deciding factor in the win. Alabama nailed 10 3-point shots in the contest, including a trio apiece by both Kelly and Deshler High’s Chloe Siegel as well as a pair from Guntersville High’s Olivia Vandergriff.
Kennedy Langham of Sparkman High posted a double-double in the winning effort for the Alabama All-Stars as she scored 14 points and pulled down 10 boards. Siegel and April Hooks of Hewitt-Trussville both finished with 10 points apiece in the winning effort.
Fittingly enough, Mississippi was also led by its Gatorade Mississippi Girls’ Player of the Year as well. University of Texas signee Madison Booker of Germantown High poured in a game-high 25 points, and she also added seven rebounds, three steals, a trio of blocks and one assist.
The Magnolia State squad also got a pair of solid performances from both Kynnedi Davis of Brandon, who scored 13 points and was five-of-10 from the field, as well as Biloxi standout Shaneal Corpuz. Corpuz scored just four points but she collected a team-high nine rebounds and added a pair of blocks. Mikayla Riley of Tupleo added nine points for Team Mississippi, while Indiya Brown of Horn Lake and Ja’Neciea Hill of Starkville High each added eight points apiece.
Booker recently guided her Lady Mavericks of Germantown High School to the first-ever state championship in prep basketball defeating Riley’s Tupelo team 64-43 to claim Class 6A State Championship at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. The Lady Mavericks’ finished the season with a school record 29-2 record.
Kelly guided the Hoover High Lady Bucs to their third straight Class 7A title recently as well as their fourth in five seasons when Hoover beat Langham and Sparkman 55-44, Kelly scored 25 points in the win at the Birmingham Jefferson County Civic Center and was named tourney Most Valuable Player
On Saturday, Mississippi was coached by Tameika Brown of Madison Central, while Alabama’s head coach was Kenny Hill of Guntersville High.
