Tony Francis says he’s never told this story before, which is surprising because it’s one of his favorites and he laughs out loud through the retelling.
Sometime after Francis finished his four-year basketball career at Niagara University in 1989, he and his high school sweetheart, Sophia, were discussing marriage. Sophia, a former track standout who once competed in the Colgate women’s games, foresaw the ideal basketball dowry.“ She said, ‘You need someone to follow your legacy,’” Tony recalled. “All you need is some basketball kids. I can give you them.’”
She was true to her word. The first Francis child, Channing, played basketball at Nichols and Lancaster High and became an ECIC all-star. A year later, she gave him a rare hoop legacy, a baby girl who grew up to be one of the best female basketball players in Western New York history.
Madison Francis might go down as the best female hoop player we’ve ever produced. Mattie, a 6-2 senior, has been a star at Lancaster High since the eighth grade and has already broken most of the school records. Last week, she went over 2,000 career points and entered this week with school records for rebounds (1,121), assists (315), steals (393) and blocks (290).
This season, Francis is averaging 31 points, 17 rebounds, 6 steals and 4 blocks for the Legends, who are 6-0 in the ECIC and chasing a fourth straight sectional title after losing in the state semifinals a year ago. She’s almost certain to repeat as the Sister Maria Pares Buffalo News Player of the Year, which she won a year ago.
Francis played for the USA women’s U18 team that won the AmeriCup championship last summer in Bucaramanga, Colombia. Early this week, she was named to the 2025 USA Nike Hoop Summit team in Portland, Ore., where top U.S. high school girls will play against their international counterparts.
Next season, Mattie will play at Mississippi State in the SEC, the best conference in women’s basketball. After that, who knows? Maybe an Olympic team, or the WNBA. As Sophia said, she gave her husband a bonus.
“It was good, being able to play with high-level players,” Francis said. “Also, to get out of the country and experience players from other countries, how they play and the energy they play with. It definitely helped me and rounded me and made me want to work harder.”
Hard work has never been an issue, from the first time Mattie picked up a basketball during her father’s regular workout sessions with Channing, which were at the Southtowns YMCA in West Seneca back then.
“Story is, when I used to work out my son when he was 5, 6, she would come to the gym, doing somersaults on the side, hiding,” Tony said. “One day, she came up to me and goes, ‘Dad, can I play?’ I was like the happiest man in the world. I was, ‘Come on, let’s go’.
“I ran them, used to get the rebounds. I would throw it up and she had to go beat her brother to it and make the layup. Vice versa, come back and do the same thing. We did that over and over, a lot of different skills we worked on, basic stuff, fundamental stuff. That’s the key to this.”
Mattie wanted to be like her brother. She grew to love the game, and the workouts. It looks easy and effortless when she plays against high school girls. That’s partly because she’s so physically gifted. But it’s mainly because she’s worked tirelessly on basketball’s fundamental skills. Watch her for a half and you might not be sure if she’s right- or left-handed. She redirects passes without actually catching them, sometimes to unsuspecting Legends teammates.
“She has really good anticipation,” said Lancaster head coach Jayson Jaskier. “I have to tell the girls, ‘Hey, you might not realize you’re open, but Madison’s going to see that you’re going to be open, so you have to have your hands up and be ready for the ball.' That’s how she helped one of her teammates get to 1,000 points, that unselfishness, making the extra pass and knowing her teammate’s going to knock down the shot or advance the ball up court for that two-point layup.”
Much of that selfless nature comes from her parents. Tony works in social services, mentoring at-risk youth and seeking alternatives to incarceration. Sophia is a psychologist, working with families in the community.
“We do a lot of homeless stuff together,” said Tony, who ran a homeless program in his native Bronx after college before moving to the Buffalo area. “We’ve got the kids involved in homelessness, and helping kids and families out, showing people what hard work is and giving back. I think it’s important to let them see the other side and be thankful for what you have.”
Tony was a 6-8 center at Niagara from 1985-89, finishing just before a young Jack Armstrong became head coach. He rebounded, set picks, did all the unglamorous little things that help a team win. As the sport evolved, he realized how vital it was for kids to learn all five positions on the floor. You can see it in his daughter, who can handle the ball, drive, pass, shoot 3s, defend down low.
“It was instilled in me ever since I was little, to be a team player and a nice person,” Francis said. “My parents have been good people; they work with social services. So they want me to be well-rounded, and I’ve grown up with that my whole life.”
She never had to be pushed to practice. “No, it was a natural pull,” she said. Or course, the boys weren’t always that accommodating.
“There were times when they didn’t allow me to play, like a boys’ tournament or something. But when I did get to play, my dad would say, ‘I’ll show all of ya!’ I’d just say ‘Dad, I got it.’”
She played exclusively with boys until she was 14. The guys would get upset on occasion. Young male pride being what it is, they might have a hard time when a girl rejected one of their layups or froze them with a crossover dribble. Then came eighth grade, where she was instantly the star for Lancaster. It wasn’t easy being a superior athlete to girls four years older, but she knew her place.
“I don’t remember my eighth grade much,” she said. “I know I was a lot more shy than I am now. But after my freshman year, it started to wear off a little bit. There was no bias. They (the older girls) weren’t mean or anything. They were all kind, all good.”
Jaskier is now in his 10th season as head coach at Lancaster. He had a solid program going. Watch his junior varsity play and you’ll know how sound a foundation he has. But having Mattie certainly made his life easier. A once-in-a-lifetime talent who was a team player? Coach’s dream.
“As an eighth-grader, she was incredible,” Jaskier said. “But she was still an eighth-grader, in middle school. So she was very quiet about it and just led by example. Her teammates respected her for how good she was, but also how she led by example. She never brags, does not want the spotlight, which was huge. Then as she got up to the high school with the girls every day, she got more comfortable. By sophomore year, she came out of her shell and still led by example, but also a vocal leader, coaching her teammates and pointing out things in a different way than I would have. You have girls getting the same message, but explained two different ways and a greater chance to understand it.”
If she was a boy, private schools would have been falling over each other trying to get her to transfer. It isn’t nearly as competitive in the girls game, but she did get approached about leaving.
“Yeah, I was,” she said. “I just didn’t feel a need. On my AAU circuit, I got a lot of exposure, and I had friends here for years.” Sophia persuaded Mattie to go out for volleyball. She wasn’t keen on the idea. Neither was her dad, at first, though he believes it’s good to be a multi-sport athlete. But she played volleyball and made all-Western New York. She also runs track and is involved in unified basketball and clubs at Lancaster.
“My mom played volleyball, so she wanted me to play,” Francis said. “It was that Covid year, so I said, ‘I’ll give it a try’ and I stuck with it. It has definitely helped jumping and plyometrics, things you wouldn’t get with basketball. It’s definitely helped me with my range of motion.”
Mattie certainly wasn’t lacking for exposure in basketball. Louisville was among the schools recruiting her when she was only 15. Sam Purcell, who spent nine years as the Cardinals’ top assistant under Jeff Walz, was recruiting her at the time. A year later, Purcell took the head coaching job at Mississippi State, where he became the winningest coach in program history in 2022.
Purcell later became an assistant coach for the national women’s U18 squad. He continued his pursuit of Francis, which led to a fortuitous airplane ride on the connecting flight to the AmeriCup tourney in Bucaramanga last summer.
“My wife and I were on the way to Colombia,” Tony Francis said. “And who was in our same row but Coach Sam Purcell! And his assistant coach. We’re like, ‘Wow!’ He’s like, I’m going to make my pitch, guys. This must be a calling, let’s make this happen’. We went down there (to Mississippi State’s campus in Starkville). We toured it, everything, the facilities, the coaching staff, the student body. It checked all the boxes.
“You want your daughter to be somewhere safe. (Purcell) is a girl dad, he’s got daughters. You release your daughter to someone far away, you want that security. He definitely gave us that. That’s our baby, know what I’m saying?”
Sophia’s father is from Jackson, Mississippi. She has family in Jackson, a two-hour drive from Starkville. She and Tony figure to spend a lot of time in the state in the coming years. Madison said she won’t be opposed. They’re at all the games. It’s been a common sight over the years to see Tony training his two kids at the Y, with Sophia watching on the sideline in a chair. Tony admits it’ll be hard to let go after all these years
“We have to see,” Tony said, “but we’re definitely going to be down there (in Mississippi) a lot, especially her first year getting adapted away from home. And it’s a switch for us. Everything is in line for her to succeed.”“I’m looking forward to her growth and development. I can’t wait.”
Francis Commits to Mississippi State
Video and Pics by Shawn Turri/WNYAthletics
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