Vicksburg’s Banks caps career with all-star appearance

Published 10:00 pm Friday, February 10, 2017

It’s going to be a big, busy weekend for Mikayla Banks.

On Sunday, the Vicksburg High soccer star will participate in a college ID camp, where she’ll try to impress coaches and earn a scholarship offer. Before that is the fun part.

On Saturday, Banks will play in the Mississippi Association of Coaches All-Star Game. The girls’ game begins at 12:30 p.m., and the boys at 2:30, and both games are at Clinton High School.

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Banks will play for the North All-Stars. She’s the only player from Warren County picked to play in either game, and the first from the county picked for the public school all-star game since 2012.

“When I got that news it made me happy. I couldn’t believe it,” Banks said. “Then it made me sad, because it hit me that the year is over and you’re never going to play on this field with your teammates again.”

Banks’ credentials as one of the 32 Mississippi all-stars are unquestioned. The senior forward scored 46 goals this season — a single-season school record — and finished second on Vicksburg High’s all-time list with 152 career goals.

Banks ranked fourth in Mississippi and second in Class 5A in goals scored this season, according to MaxPreps.com’s statewide database. Oxford’s Morgan O’Connor led Class 5A with 51 goals in 18 games. Banks scored her 46 in only 11 games. Vicksburg had an early playoff exit and had several games canceled over the course of the season.

As the biggest offensive threat on a team that finished 6-5, Banks also racked up her total while getting the defense’s full attention.

“They marked me. They would not let me free or let me breathe. I always said I’m just going to go hard and maybe I’ll find some room,” Banks said. “I’d go out there and have two or three marks and I have to get past them.”

Banks was a six-year starter for the Missy Gators and helped them win the Division 4-5A championship in three of the past four seasons. She did express some regret about not getting Vicksburg’s career goals record. Brandi Parker holds that, with 178, a total that was a state record when she graduated in 2004.

“I really did want to beat her, but I am glad to be up there,” Banks said.

In all, though, Banks was satisfied with her high school career. Now she has one more game before, hopefully, heading to the next level.

“It has blown me away. I can’t say I didn’t expect to be where I am, but I didn’t expect it to happen how it happened,” Banks said. “Especially without all the teammates and coaches that I had through the years, I couldn’t have done it.”

MAC SOCCER ALL-STAR GAME

Saturday, at Clinton High School

Girls: 12:30 p.m.

Boys: 2:30 p.m.

Admission: $5

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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