Taylor

The Meridian Star is pleased to announce Joni Taylor as keynote speaker for its May 21 Premier Preps of East Mississippi presented by Mississippi Power banquet and award ceremony.

Taylor, a Meridian native, is the head women’s basketball coach at the University of Georgia, where she recently concluded her third season. Taylor was a 2018 Werner Ladder Naismith Women’s Coach of the Year semifinalist, and in 2016 was named the Spalding Maggie Dixon National Rookie Coach of the Year.

“We are excited to have Joni Taylor return to Meridian to speak at our second-annual Premier Preps banquet,” Meridian Star publisher Alexander Gould said. “It speaks highly of her that she wants to return to her hometown and share her expertise and experiences with East Mississippi’s current stand-out athletes.”

Taylor (née Crenshaw) starred at Meridian High School and was named the 1997 Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year before continuing her academic and athletic careers at the University of Alabama. 

“Anytime I can come back home, it’s always a pleasure,” Taylor said. “Meridian did so much for me growing up, and everyone supported me and embraced me when they realized the dreams I had. So when I have to opportunity to come back… it’s always a great opportunity. It’s also an opportunity to see familiar faces and, again, thank people who helped me on my journey.”

Taylor served as an assistant and associate head coach at Georgia for four years before she was promoted to head coach in 2015. Last season, the Lady Bulldogs went 26-7 overall and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. 

“I was really excited about the year we had,” Taylor said. “We were 26-7, finished second in the SEC and we hosted the NCAA Tournament at home in Athens — we brought the tournament back to Athens for the first time since 2003. We had a really good year, and (I’m) just looking forward to building on that. Georgia basketball is very successful. We’ve been to five Final Fours, 11 Elite Eights, 20 Sweet 16s, so there’s a lot of pride and a lot of tradition that’s surrounding our program. We are excited about the foundation that we started this year, and we’re looking forward to continuing that and doing even better next year.”

The second-annual Premier Preps of East Mississippi banquet and award ceremony will be held at 5:30 p.m. May 21 at the MSU-Meridian Kahlmus Auditorium. The inaugural event attracted 325 student-athletes, parents, coaches and friends last year. 

Players selected to Premier Preps of East Mississippi teams will be given three tickets, which will be distributed to their respective schools the second week of May. Please call 601-693-1551 with any questions.