Lanetta Williams Fans' Vote for Basketball Players of the Week

From Commercial Appeal

Lanetta Williams of Arlington and Kam Jones of ECS are this week's winners of The Commercial Appeal fan poll for high school basketball player of the week.

Williams, the Tigers' Class of 2019 standout, had 53.06 percent of the total after finishing with 20 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and six blocks in a victory over District 14-AAA rival Bolton. Southwind's Ya-Ya Coleman took second with 44.72 percent of the vote.

Trezevant star Sade Hudson was third while Division II-A Miss Basketball finalist Savanna Owens of Briarcrest finished fourth.

Jones garnered 53.84 percent of the boys vote after averaging 26.5 points in victories over FACS and USJ. Briarcrest's Cedric Henderson, a Mr. Basketball finalist in Division II-AA, was second with 27.75 percent of the vote.

Class AAA Mr. Basketball finalist Tyler Harris of Cordova, who leads the city in scoring at just over 30 points per game, was third while Antavious Buford of Douglass finished fourth after leading the Red Devils to a victory in the SCIAA Class A county championship game last week.

Jayla Hemingway win Fans' Player of the Week Poll

from Commercial Appeal


Jayla Hemingway, a junior, averaged 32.7 points in three victories for the Mustangs last week. She tallied 48.99 percent of the vote — 1,521 in total — to easily defeat Annaliese Burnett of MHEA, who finished second with 26.02 percent (808 votes). Jireh Washington of Central was third and Sade' Hudson of Trezevant was fourth.

Hadley Horner, Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

released 1/23/18

Hadley Horner, Harding: Horner turned in two strong performances in victories over St. George's and Rossville Christian. The junior had 13 points and seven steals against the Gryphons on Friday before dropping 30 on the Wolves on Saturday to help Harding improve to 12-7.

Gabby Crawford, Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

released 1/16/18


Gabby Crawford, Munford: One the same night her future school won the college football national championship, Alabama signee Crawford had a memorable night of her own in a 63-53 victory over Dyer County. The 6-1 senior finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals as the Cougars improved their record to 13-5.

Jireh Washington, Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

Jireh Washington, Central: Washington, who has signed to play at Arkansas State, had an excellent tournament as the Warriors finished runner-up in the Collierville Dragon Fire Invitational last week. She averaged 22 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 4.8 steals and had 26 as Central fell to Central Arkansas Christian in the championship game.

Kira Lowery, Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

Kira Lowery, Southwind: Lowery turned in three great all-around games for the Jaguars, starting with 26 points, nine assists and six steals in a win over Craigmont. She then had 21, eight and seven against Mitchell before totaling 21, three and six against Briarcrest.

Tashun Bryson, Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

Tashun Bryson, Mitchell: There are plenty of talented ninth and tenth-graders in the area this year and Bryson deserves mention among the best. She scored 20 points (11 of 12 from the free-throw line) and grabbed 11 rebounds against Trezevant, before adding 16 and 11 against Overton. Bryson then had 15 points, 14 boards and six blocks against GRAD Academy to help fuel Mitchell's six-game winning streak.

Brittni Moore, Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

Brittni Moore, White Station: Moore, who will play her college ball at Tennessee-Martin, turned in a monster effort as the Spartans defeated Whitehaven 74-70 last Friday. She scored 29 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to go along with four assists and three steals.

Annaliese Burnett, Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

Annaliese Burnett, MHEA: The 5-foot-8 senior was instrumental in two victories last week. Burnett scored 27 points and pulled down 15 rebounds in a 52-44 victory over Briarcrest before coming back with 18 and nine against White Station.

Alexis Acoff, Tesia Thompson Co-Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

Tesia Thompson, Hamilton: An honoree for the third time this season, Thompson made her last regular-season home game against Overton one to remember Tuesday. The city's leading scorer poured in 41 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, handed out 8 assists and made 10 steals as the Wildcats rolled over their 16-AAA rivals, 76-32.

Alexis Acoff, W.E.B. DuBois: As impressive as Thompson was, Acoff was maybe even more so in her team's 69-51 victory over GRAD Academy last Friday. Acoff poured in 54 points, the most in a game for any Shelby-Metro player — male or female — since 2013, when Malinda Allen of Westminster scored 62 against Central Baptist.

Derrenisha Jackson, Antoinette Lewis, Co-Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

Derrenisha Jackson, Booker T. Washington: Jackson led the Warriors to four victories over the last week, highlighted by a 27-point, 12-rebound, 8-steal effort against Freedom Prep. She followed that up with 20 points, 6 rebounds and 4 steals against Memphis School of Excellence, helping the Lady Warriors secure their fourth straight trip to the SCIAA county championship game.

Antoinette Lewis, Harding: The South Alabama signee turned in some consistently excellent performances over the last several days. She scored 12 points and grabbed 16 rebounds against Lausanne (a game in which she went over 2,000 career points) and followed that up with 23 and 14 against St. Mary's. Lewis then had 14 points and 18 rebounds in a victory over FACS and 22 in Tuesday's win over ECS that improved the Lions to 21-4.

Caitlyn Wilson, Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

Caitlyn Wilson, Arlington: The sophomore, who leads District 14-AAA in scoring at 13.4 points per game, will improve on that after a pair of good performances last week. She made 3 of 4 3-pointers en route to 20 points in a 76-16 victory over Kingsbury before scoring 22 along with 6 rebounds and 7 steals in a 63-49 win over Bartlett. She was 4 of 6 behind the arc in that one.

Jasmine Carson, Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

Jasmine Carson, Whitehaven: Carson tied the state record with 14 3-pointers and scored a career-high 46 points last Thursday as Whitehaven defeated Overton, 125-30. The total was just three short of the national record for three-pointers in a game. The next night, she had 31 in a 69-49 victory over Hamilton before scoring 15 in a 66-53 over Mitchell in the Whitehaven Classic on Saturday.

Tesia Thompson, Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

Tesia Thompson, Hamilton: The city's leading scorer at 25.2 points per game, Thompson did her best Russell Westbrook imitation in Tuesday's 62-55 victory over arch-rival Melrose. The senior scored 33 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and had 10 steals to win the award for the second time this season.

Derinisha Taylor, Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

Derinisha Taylor, Mitchell: The Tigers make their debut in the Dandy Dozen this season and as usual Taylor has been right in the middle of her team's success. The 5-6 senior averaged 17.7 points as Mitchell won two out of three games at the Lendel Thomas Classic in Harrison, Ark. She was named game MVP in both victories against Arkansas opponents, scoring 25 against Ashdown (63-49) and 18 against Fort Smith Southside (50-32). She then had 18 in Tuesday's 80-24 win over MAHS.

Tesia Thompson, Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

Released December 21, 2016

Tesia Thompson, Hamilton: Thompson, who is leading the city in scoring at a shade over 28 points per game, turned in a terrific effort in Thursday's victory over Craigmont. She scored 38 points and grabbed 19 boards as the Wildcats rolled, 76-37, to improve to 5-1.

Lindsey Vaughn, Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

Lindsey Vaughn, Memphis Home Education Association: Vaughn, a junior shooting guard, turned in one of the top scoring games of the year on Tuesday, pouring in 38 41 points as the defending home school national champs beat Lausanne, 60-48. She also scored 16 in a 79-58 loss to Dandy Dozen No. 2 Houston on Dec. 7 and 19 in a 44-39 victory over ninth-ranked Harding on Dec. 9

Lauren Taylor, Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

Lauren Taylor, Collierville: The junior forward had a big week for the Dragons, scoring 25 points along with eight rebounds and two steals in a victory over DeSoto Central then pacing a win over Bartlett with 16 points, nine boards and two steals. In a loss to unbeaten and Dandy Dozen No. 1 Olive Branch, she had 11 points and six boards.

Tesia Thompson, Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

Tesia Thompson, Hamilton: Thompson, a 5-10 senior, put on a show at the Martin Luther King tournament last week, She scored 49 points (including a remarkable 41 in the second half) as the Wildcats rallied from 16 down to defeat Kirby, 58-56.

Brandi Beasley, Commercial Appeal Player of the Week

Brandi Beasley, Ridgeway: The Illinois signee is closing her terrific career in style, leading the Roadrunners into Saturday's SCIAA county championship game against Central. Beasley tuned up for the Warriors by scoring 32 points — one off her season high — in Tuesday's 70-53 victory over District 15-AAA rival Collierville.