COLUMBUS — A crowd of slightly more than 100 fans at Pohl Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon witnessed one of the best single-game performances in Mississippi University for Women women’s basketball history.
Junior Conley Langford, already averaging career-highs in a number of statistical categories this season, went off for 36 points and 22 rebounds against Eureka College.
Her 52.6% shooting from the field (10-of-19) and 93.8% foul shooting (15-of-16) helped contribute to an 89-76 win for the Owls, moving to 4-5 on the season and 3-2 in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC).
As good as her individual performance was, the Calhoun City native kept her focus outward.
“I wouldn’t say that it’s just me at all,” Langford said. “It all keys into how everyone plays their role. I know that without every single person on the team, that wouldn’t have been possible. It just so happened that I was in the position to do that.”
Her selfless attitude has been one of the main drivers for MUW this season, helping them turn the corner from a winless 2022-23 campaign to a competitive season in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Association in an instant.
The Owls endured a lot of tough times last season, Langford’s first season with the program after transferring from Northwest Mississippi Community College, but those bumps in the road have only helped to bring this season’s team closer.
While Langford leads the Owls in scoring at 19.0 points per game and rebounding at 9.3 rebounds per game, earning her second SLIAC Player of the Week honor this week, her biggest impact comes via her leadership.
“She’s stayed hungry,” Owls head coach Drew Johnson said. “Last year, she showed the world who she was and she’s built off of that. I know last year was difficult for everybody, but she used it as motivation. … This team came in motivated. The returning players, they wanted better. The people who came in wanted to help us build something and they’ve done just that.”
That “team-first” mentality was instilled in Langford in high school. Roughly 75 or so miles away in Calhoun City, she embraced the teachings of her head coach, Robert Fox.
From the weight room to the classroom and on the floor, Langford put in the extra work in order to succeed, and a more family-oriented team mindset is something that stuck with her.
“I remember her in fifth grade wanting to ride the bus to the game with the high school team,” Fox said. “… She was the kid who did whatever the team needed her to do. … That was one thing we always preached on, counting on the one beside you, always having their back. We always believed in having that family motto.”
Funny enough, Langford was just as successful of a softball player in high school, but basketball was the sport that stuck.
“She got softball scholarships early in high school, but her dream was still to play college basketball,” Fox said. “I knew early that she could do it. … She’s always been a gym rat. She’s always had love for the game. She’s always been about the team. She always had that grit in her.”
Epitomizing “team before self,” Langford has evolved into one of the best rebounding guards in the country even though she stands just 5-foot-6.
It’s helped her create a well-rounded portfolio on the court, a do-it-all, all-around kind of guard who creates plays and keeps them alive.
Saturday’s performance against Eureka is a prime example of that.
“That individual performance was special,” Johnson said. “I’ve never seen anything like that before in my entire life, men’s or women’s basketball, and I’ve been coaching for a while.”
On-court success has followed Langford, but basketball has been, in a way, therapeutic for her as her junior year rolls on.
Being able to step on the court several dozen times a season has been a blessing and the opportunity to keep playing has kept her driven.
Johnson said of Saturday’s performance that it’s far from the last time she’ll be putting up those numbers, and with her internal motor keeping her engaged, she has the potential of being one of the best athletes in MUW’s history.
“I think that we’re all fired up,” Langford said. “Instead of proving it to everyone else, we had to prove it to ourselves that we can do it. Now that we’ve shown that we can do it, we believe that we can win.”
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