FREE VIDEO -- Skelton gets 1000th career win

Click on the screen or link above to watch Gina Skelton winning her 1000th career basketball game as a head coach Tuesday night in Hurley.

By Paul Keane

HURLEY — History was made in a sleepy little gym here Tuesday night.

Wayne County High School Head Girls Basketball Coach Gina Skelton became one of roughly 10 coaches in the history of Mississippi high school basketball to record their 1,000th career victory. She accomplished the feat with a yeoman’s effort in a 53-14 win over district foe East Central.

The win moved Skelton to 1,000-365 on her career which began in 1981 at Pickens County High School in Alabama. As she did when she picked up her 700th, 800th and 900th victories, the head coach deflected the praise to her players and assistant coaches.

“It’s not about me,” she said. “It’s really about the great players I’ve been able to coach over the years. Also, I’ve been blessed with some really good assistant coaches. I could have never reached this without the player and coaches who have helped me along the way.

“What it really means is that I’m old. When I started coaching, I never thought I would last this long and have this much success. It has been an incredible career and to God be all the glory.”

After the game, WCHS Supervising Principal Robert “Bubba” Hathorn presented Skelton with a game ball signifying her 1,000th win, with the ball being signed by her players. She was also presented with a plaque and a set of four balloons that spelled out “1,000.”

Once she arrived in the locker room, her players ambushed her with water bottles, soaking her to the bone. She immediately started asking someone to get a mop and told her players that the locker room had to be cleaned up before they left.

The milestone victory is another notch in the belt of a basketball who has already been inducted into the Mississippi Association of Coaches Hall of Fame back in 2016.

She began her playing career at Waynesboro Central High School, lettering for four years in basketball and track. She was also a cheerleader, a member of Beta Club, the Lettermen’s Club and was voted Miss WCHS, Most Athletic and Class Favorite.

In basketball, she was all-district and all-Sam Dale Conference three years, was a captain and Most Valuable Player, She was selected to the MAC South All-Star Team.

She then accepted a basketball scholarship to play at the Mississippi University for Women, where he was a part of the team and numerous clubs and organizations. 

She began her coaching career at Pickens County High School, coaching varsity and junior high basketball and serving as a softball assistant coach for two years. She then moved to Carthage High and coached seventh grade through varsity teams for seven years.

In 1990, she moved to Forest High School, where she served as the girls head coach and also served as the boys head coach for one year. It was that one year where Skelton became the first female in Mississippi to take both a boys and girls team to the State Final Four in the same year.

She also won the first of her four state championships at the school.

She also coached cross country, track and was the head softball coach for one year.

She returned to Waynesboro and Wayne County in 2000, which is where she has enjoyed the most success in her career. She served as the head girls coach for 12 years and coached cross country for seven years. During an incredible span from the 2001-2002 season to the 2011-2012 season at WCHS, she posted a 201-36 in seven of those seasons total, winning the Class 4A state title in 2005-2006 and then bringing home the Class 5A crown in the 2009-2010 campaign.

During that run, she also took teams to the Class 5A Final Four four times — including a runner-up finish in 2002-2003 — and reached the Class 4A Final Four twice.

Skelton took the head coaching position at Quitman High Schools from 2012-2016, winning a state championship there as well. In 2016, she returned to WCHS and is also in her eighth year as the school’s athletic director.

Her teams have advanced to the playoffs 35 times over the span of her career, reaching 16 Final Fours, 23 Elite Eights and 35 Sweet Sixteens. In South State and North State, she has won 11 titles to go with her 22 division championships.

She’s recorded 24 20-plus win seasons and eight 30-plus win seasons.

As a cross country coach, she has won two team state championships and coached three individual state champions while also winning 13 division titles.

As a track coach, she helped five athletes win individual state championships,.

She’s won multiple Coach of the Year honors from the MAC, MHSAA, Clarion Ledger, Meridian Star and other organizations. She’s coached in the Mississippi-Alabama All-Star Game multiple times and remains active in the MAC in a number of roles.

She has coached at the national level and has even been a finalist for National Coach of the Year honors.

She is also scheduled to be inducted into the Scott County Hall of Fame later this school year.

Tuesday night against East Central, her team had trouble getting the shots to fall but played typical Skelton basketball — boxing out to control the boards and forcing turnovers to create fast-break opportunities. Against the Lady Hornets, WCHS held a 43-23 rebounding edge and forced 19 ECHS turnovers.

The Lady War Eagles jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter behind five points from Shatoni Walker, four from Ja’Leeriya Howard and three from Olivia Sims. By the end of the period, WCHS was in control with a 16-3 lead.

After the Lady Hornets hit a three-pointer to open the second quarter, the Lady War Eagles went on another run, this time of the 12-0 variety. Howard scored six points to lead the way, putting WCHS up by a 28-6 margin with 1:25 left in the first half.

At the intermission, that lead was 31-9.

Once again, a run by the Lady War Eagles — this time a 7-0 run — gave the visiting team a 38-9 advantage. After ECHS hit a three-pointer, Howard, Kha’Myriah Gaines and Celia McDonald all hit jumpers to make it 44-12 heading into the final quarter of action.

Skelton was able to move players in and out of the game after that, with Paris Daniels scoring three points and buckets coming from McDonald, MaKyla Harris and Kaden Fairchild.

Howard scored 12 while Zion Roberts added 10 in the winning effort.