Sophomore Hayes driving East Hamilton’s ambitions
One look at her Twitter handle — @girl4allsports — pretty much defines Madison Hayes in her youth.
“I just loved playing sports,” the East Hamilton sophomore said. “I was a tomboy. I wanted to do what the boys did. I played a little bit of flag football. I played everything.”
The girl for all sports one day will have to narrow her choice to one, which is expected to be the one she and her teammates are about to start playing Thursday as high school basketball season begins this week. The Lady Hurricanes host Smyrna at 6 p.m. ahead of the 7:30 boys’ tipoff in TSSAA Hall of Champions games.
The first sport Hayes tried was softball, which she played from coach-pitch years until she was in middle school. But before she left that sport behind, as a 13-year-old in July 2015 she added the 14-under girls’ Pitch, Hit & Run title to the 12-under one she had won the year before, making her the first girl to repeat as national champion in that event in its then-19-year history.
Volleyball is something she didn’t start playing until middle school. But at close to 6-foot and with a profound leaping ability, she caught on quickly. Hayes was by far her team’s leader in kills and helped East Hamilton win its first district championship in the program’s nine-year history, along with winning a third region title and advancing to the state tournament for the first time since going in 2011 and 2012. Then there’s basketball. “I just felt like I could become something in basketball,” Hayes said. “The game has a better pacing to it. I like that, instead of just waiting around, like you do a lot of in those other sports.”
Hayes has been a varsity starter for the Lady Hurricanes since she was an eighth-grader and isn’t too far way from the 1,000-point mark already. She averaged 15 points and nine rebounds per game last season and has the potential to be a 2,000-point scorer with 1,000 rebounds in her high school career.
Coach Hunter Gremore came from the Memphis area to East Hamilton last year. He recalled the moment he first met his new star pupil.
“Just look at her,” Gremore said. “Look how long and athletic she is. I knew with her body frame, she could be a special athlete. The first thing that stood out to me when we got together was how hard she played. I could see she had this intensity level. Her motor never stopped.”
Hayes has the ability to make shots from 3-point distance, as well as take the ball to the basket and finish with either hand. She also can defend multiple positions. But Gremore said there’s one area where she excels the most.
“As far as basketball, she is hands down the best offensive rebounder I have coached,” said Gremore, who in his 21st year of coaching has coached boys and girls in various sports with several having signed NCAA Division I scholarships and some of the guys making it to the NFL. “That’s all desire and anticipation, and knowing the angles. It’s still amazing to me that she’s only a sophomore in high school.”
Hayes has gotten a lot of national exposure from playing AAU basketball for her 17-under FBC United team. Her first NCAA D-I offer was from Syracuse the summer before she started ninth grade, and now she has offers from practically every ACC and SEC school.
But foremost on her mind right now is challenging for the District 5-AAA title that Bradley Central has had a stranglehold on in recent years. Incidentally, when East Hamilton takes on the Bearettes, Hayes is usually matched up against her cousin, Rhyne Howard, who recently signed scholarship papers to play at Kentucky.
“It helps me become a better player,” Hayes said. “She’s going to be playing at a Division I college, so that helps me get my game better. She challenges me, and I challenge her at times. That makes us both better.”
Playing a rugged early-season schedule and adjusting to a new coach, the Lady ’Canes started last season 3-10. Afterward they were 13-4 with three of the losses to Bradley. The other was a season-ender when White County made a last-second shot to oust them from the Region 3 tournament, which Bradley won.
Hayes’ supporting cast includes classmates Dezah Lacey, a guard, and Eliziah Laboo, a post player who had as many as 16 rebounds in a game last year. Both were all-district selections along with Hayes.
Carli Zeh returns as a starter for a third season, and fellow senior Maleiah Moon directs the show and is a tough defender. Another senior, Hailey Abernathy, is coming back from a torn ACL and will provide some perimeter shooting off the bench.
And keep an eye on another reserve, eighth-grader McKenna Hayes, Madison’s sister.
“I feel like as a team we have the best chemistry,” the elder Hayes said. “As long as we know our roles, I think we can be a really good team. We will try. We’ll fight to the buzzer. We’re a team that doesn’t really give up.”
After she got to experience what the volleyball state tournament was like, her dream now is to get to the basketball state tournament. She would love to share those moments with her teammates.
She’s a giver. Maybe to a fault, if that’s possible.
“If anything she’s too unselfish,” Gremore said. “I want her shooting the ball. I just want the ball in her hands.”
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.