Legendary leap: Lancaster's Madison Francis, Mississippi State recruit, gets national attention for rare slam dunk in game

LANCASTER, N.Y. (WIVB) -- On the eve of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, a Lancaster Legend reached rarified air.

Madison Francis, a four-star recruit for Mississippi State, punctuated her exceptional high school basketball career with a slam dunk during Lancaster's senior night game. Jamming on a fast-break Tuesday night, Francis is believed to be the first girls basketball player in the Buffalo area to dunk in a game, and among a select few in New York State history to achieve the feat.

"To do it at home on senior night was a really good accomplishment," Francis said at practice Thursday. "I've been working on it for a while. I've dunked in practice so many times. But doing it in a game was hard for me."

Video of the high-flying highlight circulated on social media soon after the No. 2-ranked large school in Western New York improved to 13-3 with its 80-33 victory against Williamsville North. ESPN included the dunk in its SportsCenter Top 10 on Wednesday. It was the lead highlight in an montage Hudl posted to recognize National Girls and Women in Sports Day that had received more than 1.6 million plays and 396,000 likes on Tik Tok, and another 55,000 likes and 1,000 shares on Instagram.

"It's surreal to see this moment that happened in our house get shared everywhere," Lancaster coach Jason Jaskier said.

The video quickly reached Mississippi State coach Sam Purcell, who reacted with proud laughter when asked about the dunk by reporters. "Was that awesome or what?" he said. "My phone started going crazy from New York, like: 'She did it! She did it!' And everybody was real cool up there sending me videos and different angles."

In-game dunking is an uncommon feat at even the highest levels of women's basketball. A dozen players have done it a WNBA or NCAA game. All but two were taller than the 6-foot-1 Francis.

Francis is believed to be the first girls basketball player in New York State to dunk in a game since two-time WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart did it for Cicero-North Syracuse in 2011. And they might be the only two. Oliva Olsen from the Schenectady area threw one down during a BCANY contest in 2019, but never in a game. Tanya Hansen, an Albany-area star in the 1980s, was known to be able to dunk but there is no record of her doing so in a high school contest.

"It feels really good to be one of the few that can do it," Francis said. "I'm glad I can have my name among those."

"Inspiring," was how senior teammate Morgan Molino described witnessing Mattie, as friends and family call her, join the exclusive club.

"It was electric," Molino said. "There's been games over the past two seasons she's tried to dunk and got really close. Being there when she finally did it was amazing. The entire place stood up."

One of 20 players in the country chosen for the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland, Oregon at the end of the season, Francis has scored 2,205 career points after Tuesday night's game, ranking just outside the top 15 in WNY history, within 100 points from the top 10. She is averaging 31.6 points, 15.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 6.4 steals and 3.6 blocks, with 34 made 3-pointers in 14 games for a Lancaster team that has won three consecutive Section VI championships since Francis was a freshman.

That was the year Francis recognized her talent extended above the rim. In the gym with her brother Channing, who is now a freshman at Bryant & Stratton College, and father Tony, a former Niagara University player, the Francis family would end workouts with dunking competitions.

"Then it was a competition to see who would get it down in a game first," Francis said. "My brother got it first, and I've been trying ever since."

Francis estimated she's had about 10 near misses in games over the past couple seasons. One came earlier on her senior night. But when she got a steal at mid-court and an open runway to the basket, hearing teammates and fans holler dunk, she felt the wind beneath her wings.

"I told myself I'm going for it," she said. "And when I got up there, it felt really good."

Francis' favorite part of the highlight video was seeing her father and brother leap from their courtside seats when the dunk went through.

"I probably re-watched 100 times to see their reaction," she said.

It was in the Lancaster gym when her brother was a sophomore on the boys varsity team that Mattie, as her family and friends call her, got her first dunk.

"Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her dunk it, and heard the rim bend," Jaskier said. "Everybody looked around smiling, like wait a minute, what just happened? Then her brother told her to do it again. And she had an audience, and she did it again. But I hadn't seen it since."

Francis honed her leaping ability playing volleyball and competing for Lancaster's track and field teams, helping the Legends win sectional titles in both sports. Her personal-best in the triple jump was almost 40 feet, and she cleared 5-6 in the high jump.

"Playing multiple sports was essential," she said. "Especially all the conditioning and jump training we do for volleyball. Just to be a well-rounded athlete."

Francis was overlooked for the McDonald's All-American Game last week, and her future college coach wondered if the slight powered her dunk conquest.

"It's like I tell all my women, sometimes when you're denied, it opens up a window of opportunity," Purcell said. "So for her, I think she was a little upset. And she took it out on the opposing team, and threw it down."

If that inspired Francis, her dunk paid it forward.

"It's definitely inspiring us, especially with all the talk this week about watching women's sports," Molino said. "We had momentum from going to the state finals last year. Now watching Mattie's dunk only gives us more momentum to go even further."

Jaskier noted that since Francis joined the program, "her talent level has inspired teammates to try things they might not know they can do. Whether it’s dribbling through the legs, or a reverse layup. Then when they succeed at that, she’s the biggest cheerleader for them."

"Now seeing the video spread," Jaskier said, "people all over are going to see it and feel inspired."