Blythewood girls basketball headed to second straight championship game
The Blythewood girls will have a chance to defend their state championship.
The Bengals defeated Mauldin, 60-54, in the Class 5A Division I Upper State championship held at Newberry High School.
The Bengals will face the Lexington/Wando winner at 6 p.m. March 6 at Colonial Life Arena.
“Just a ton of emotion,” Blythewood coach Emily Schaeffer told The Columbia Star after the game. Proud of the girls, coaching staff and everyone that is involved. Proud for our community and program to be able to try and do it again.”
Class 5A Division I co-player of the year Chase Thomas poured in 29 points and had 12 rebounds as the Bengals won a back-and-forth battle.
India Williams added 15 points for Blythewood. Williams hit a 3-pointer to give the Bengals a 53-51 lead. Then, eighth-grader Kristen Fulton’s 3-pointer put Blythewood up 56-51 with 2:22 left.
The Bengals started the season 1-3, but won 22 of their final 24 games.
American Leadership loses in semifinals
American Leadership boys couldn’t hold on to an 11-point halftime lead in losing to High Point Academy, 66-53, in the Class 2A Upper State championship at Mid-Carolina.
High Point will face Mullins/Philip Simmons winner at 4 p.m. Thursday at Colonial Life Arena.
American Leadership is only in its second year and was making its first state semifinal appearance.
The Patriots hit four 3-pointers in the second quarter and led 31-20 at halftime. ALA’s lead was 44-38 going into the fourth quarter but was quickly erased in the first three minutes of the final quarter.
High Point finished the game on an 18-8 run.
SCISA Class 4A Boys Championship
Heathwood’s bid for its first state title in 14 years came up short against Pinewood Prep, 61-48, on Friday at the Sumter Civic Center.
It was Pinewood Prep’s first state championship since 2010.
Tre Green scored 24 points and Heathwood struggled with shooting at times in the second half. Kais Parris had 18 points and Tripp Eidson added 12 for Pinewood.
“We had a stretch in the game where we struggled to make shots, and they had a stretch where they made a couple 3-pointers in a row,” Heathwood coach Brian Benator told reporters after the game. “There was a little stretch in the third period when I felt like their press got to us a little bit.
“The lid appeared to be on the basket against us all game. We just picked a bad game to miss so many shots.”
It was the second meeting of the year between the teams. Heathwood won, 59-51, back in December. The Highlanders played the game without second-leading scorer Henry Morris, who suffered a serious knee injury in the semifinal game against Laurence Manning.
Heathwood led 18-13 in the second quarter, but Pinewood finished the half on a 7-0 run to lead 20-18. The Panthers extended the lead to double digits in the fourth quarter.
Jackson Dickerson had 10 points to lead Heathwood. Hunter Collins and Deuce Claxton each added nine.
Green, Parris and Eidson made the all-tournament team for the Panthers. Chip Ravenell and Keon McKinley were all-tournament selections for the Highlanders.
SCISA Class A Girls Championship
Wardlaw Academy rallied from a double-digit first-half deficit to win the SCISA Class A girls championship over Richard Winn, 43-39, at the Sumter Civic Center.
Wardlaw trailed 16-4 after the first quarter and then by 11 in the second quarter before cutting the lead to 24-17 at halftime.
Wardlaw trailed 35-34 with just under two minutes left before a 5-0 run gave it the lead for good.
Katherine Trotter led Wardlaw with 17 points and Taylor Hill had 15.
It was the fifth matchup of the season between the teams, with Wardlaw going 3-2 in the series this year.
Abby Lewis led Richard Winn with 13 points. Richard Winn was looking for its first championship since 2016.
This story was originally published February 27, 2026 at 10:59 PM.
