Lawrence County’s girls basketball team hadn’t won a playoff game in five years.

Lawrence County’s girls basketball team hadn’t won more than 20 games in a season in seven years.

Lawrence County’s girls basketball team hadn’t won a state championship … ever.

Then everything changed.

Lawrence County won 30 games in 2017-2018.

They won five playoff games this season.

And they won their first girls’ basketball state championship.

They did it, in part, because of senior Camryn Davis and the role that she took on. Davis led the Cougars in scoring with 16.4 points per game and in rebounding with 8.4 rebounds per game. She scored 15 points in the state title game against Byhalia.

Davis finished her career in the cardinal and black as a state champion, and now she moves on to her college career at Copiah-Lincoln Community College, only a few miles up the road from where she helped lead the resurgence of the Lawrence County girls’ basketball team.

“Copiah-Lincoln (Community College) made it feel like home, and it’s really close to home, too,” Davis said. “They gave me a family type of feeling when I went there.”

Lawrence County girls’ basketball coach Vicki Rutland said that Co-Lin is not only getting a great player on the court, but that they’re getting a better person off the floor in Davis.

“They’re getting a dedicated, hard-worker that is extremely versatile,” Rutland said. “She can go coast-to-coast, but she can also make beautiful moves in the paint. They’re getting a better person. She’s got good character. She’s got good grades, and she’s passionate about the game of basketball.”

Rutland said that Davis’ versatility as a basketball player will help her on the junior college level with basketball becoming, at times, a position-less sport over the last few years.

Davis played center for Lawrence County, but will likely play the small or power forward positions at Co-Lin, said Rutland.

“I think her versatility is really important,” Rutland said. “In games you have to make important adjustments that if someone was just a center or just a guard you might not have the luxury of using.”

Davis said that she’s excited to get started at a Co-Lin program that has become one of the premier junior college girls’ basketball programs in Mississippi.

“It’s a really nice program,” Davis said. “Everybody in the program is really athletic. I really look forward to playing there and improving as a basketball player.”

Davis said that she was excited to stay home and play in front of her friends and family at Co-Lin, and Rutland echoed those sentiments.

“Lawrence County loves Camryn,” Rutland said. “With her staying in our district with Co-Lin it makes it a lot easier to follow her. You’ll see the bleachers packed with Lawrence County fans.”

Story by Collin Brister