Canton High’s Shamira Morton named 2026 Tatum and Wade/MSB Girls Basketball Player

Article courtesy of Robert Wilson and MS Scoreboard

Canton High School girls basketball player Shamira Morton, a 6-foot-3 senior center and Seton Hall signee, averaged 22.9 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 5.3 blocked shots (third, sixth and third respectively in Mississippi by MaxPreps) and led Canton to a 26-5 record and the MHSAA Class 6A quarterfinals this season, despite being double and triple teamed all year. She won the Metro Jackson Player of the Year award for the third consecutive season, matching former Germantown star Madison Booker, who is now an All-American and SEC champion at the University of Texas. Booker won Metro Jackson Player of the Year from 2021-23.

Morton set school records for most career points, rebounds and blocked shots and is the first Canton girls basketball player in two decades to receive a Division I scholarship offer. She was the MHSAA Class 6A Miss Basketball as a senior and the MHSAA Class 5A Miss Basketball as a junior.

Morton led Canton to a school record 28 victories and back-to-back state runner-up finishes for the past two seasons as a junior and sophomore. She has career highs of 40 points against Ridgeland this season and Velma Jackson as a junior, 23 rebounds against Ridgeland as a junior and 12 blocked shots against Cleveland Central and Greenville as a sophomore.
Morton has had 75 double doubles and 12 triple doubles and has scored in double figures in all but one game in the past three seasons. 

“What a ride it has been having Shamira as a player,” said Canton coach Melissa Word, who has been at Canton for 27 seasons and won a state title in 2013 and two state runners-up finishes in 2024 and 2025. “This season has its share of adversity, especially with injuries that seemed to make its way throughout the whole team. Shamira actually played the last three weeks with a sprained ankle, which eventually aggravated her Achilles. But no excuse. Of course, fans and our opponents didn’t realize it because she continued to give us her all every night. Hopefully, her work ethic and love for the game had rubbed off on the remaining players, who had an opportunity to play with her.”

“I improved on the court with expanding my game from the perimeter, being more patient, finding the gaps in other teams’ defenses, because I got double-teamed a lot last year,” Morton said. “This year, I struggled with finding the gaps more in defenses, because most of the teams we faced basically played us zone to keep two people on me. So, after getting advice, I started moving more and finding the gaps. My expectations for myself moving forward is to work harder than I have before. I need to improve my agility, get stronger, and improve my leadership even more from my high school years.”

In addition to Morton’s injury late in the season, her teammates battled through injuries, as well (Dekendra Mitchell missed games with ankle injuries, Aquirana Wade missed games with a finger injury and Aeriona Wallace played all season with a torn labrum). 

“Shamira is an amazing teammate,” Canton junior Journey Brown said. “She’s always inspiring us and encouraging us to be the best version of ourselves. Her leadership and positivity have made a huge impact on our team.”

“Shamira has been a big influence on our team,” Mitchell said. “She leads with confidence and always encourages us to believe in ourselves. Being her teammate has helped me grow both as a player and as a person.”

“Being able to experience these few years with Shamira has opened my eyes and taught me a lot,” Canton sophomore Kyle Rogers said. “Her leadership, how adamant she is about the game of basketball, and how hard she works on and off the court have made me want to push harder every day.”

In addition to Seton Hall, Morton has Division I offers from Alcorn State, Southern Miss, Memphis, SMU, Charlotte, South Alabama, Belmont, Murray State, Arkansas State, Stony Brook, and North Carolina A&T. She is the first Canton girls basketball player to receive a Division I offer since LaCourtney Ratliff received one from Ole Miss in 2003. Ratliff played on Canton’s state championship team.

Morton averaged 23.6 points (third in scoring average in Mississippi), 14 rebounds (second in rebounding average) and 5.5 blocked shots (second in blocked shots average) last season as a junior. She had 25 double doubles and five triple doubles.

Morton averaged 21.1 points, 13.4 rebounds and 5.2 blocked shots two years ago as a sophomore. She had 22 double doubles and five triple doubles. 

She averaged 10.3 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.8 blocked shots and helped Clinton Christian to a 19-15 record and a third-place finish in the MAIS Class 4A state tournament and reached the MAIS Overall Tournament quarterfinals and made fourth team All-Metro Jackson three years ago season as a freshman before transferring to Canton for her sophomore year.

Morton started as an eighth grader at Canton before transferring to Clinton Christian.

Morton is the daughter of Shameka and Dewayne Morton. Shameka played basketball at Gulfport High and Jefferson Davis Junior College, now Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Dewayne played basketball at Canton High and Holmes CC.