NCAA women’s basketball stars impacting high school players on the Mississippi coast

There is no denying that the game of women’s college basketball has grown faster maybe than we have ever seen. Players like Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, and Caitlin Clark have transcended the sport of college basketball all across the world – including right here on the coast.

“I have a 17-year-old daughter who s infatuated with Angel Reese,” said Biloxi high school girls head basketball coach Devin Hill. Coach Hill has been coaching the game for 16 years, and his daughter is much like the rest of young women watching the ever-growing game over the last two seasons.

He has seen first-hand how much players in the women’s college basketball world have changed the game for young women both on and off the basketball court. One of those young players impacted here on the coast is East Central high school sophomore Olivia Tanner.

If you ask Tanner who her favorite player is – the answer is easy.

“It’s probably Caitlin Clark,” she said. “It doesn’t matter where she is at she is going to make it. It seems like she barely misses, like, when you are watching her games. It’s just incredible how much, like, you can tell she puts in work to get to that level.”

Tanner is absolutely right.

There is so much work that goes on behind the scenes, in any profession, to get to the level that these elite athletes are on. East Central’s head coach, Fredrick Brown, spoke on his teams approach to the game after watching players like JuJu Watkins, Kamilla Cardoso, and so many others.

“I think they understand and they want to come to work everyday and play hard,” he said. “When they have success that displays on the court and I think it is very good and very important because it shows the skillset that these girls are actually displaying.”

Coach Devin Hill also understands the importance of what is happening in the world of, not just women’s college basketball, but women’s sports as a whole. He says it’s just as important to celebrate the stars in the game now as it is to honor those that came before them.

“There has always been great basketball players – there are so many women who have paved the way,” said Hill. “Yes, let’s talk about them and let’s talk about the impact they have had. But there can’t be a Caitlin Clark or a Paige Bueckers without a Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, or Sheryl Swoopes. All the way back, you know, so it is great to see coming to fruition. I’ve got three daughters so I love to see it but I think it is important to go further back and understand the history of it.”

No matter if she is watching the best of the older generation, or the stars of the game today that we have all come to know and love, Tanner says the influence they have had on the game she loves has been unlike anything ever.

“I’ve played basketball for as long as I can remember,” she said. “It’s really fun and I just love getting out there to play it. For myself, just watching them makes me want to work harder to get even close to that level.”