Back-to-Back Bengals: Blythewood girls roll to second straight title
One is fun, but two is dynamic.
Blythewood doubled down on the program’s first-ever state title last season and knocked off Wando 68-44 in the Class 5A Division I girls basketball state championship Friday evening at Colonial Life Arena.
The senior class came in as ninth-graders one season after the program went winless and now has made its mark as one of the top teams in the state over a two-year span.
“When this group came in the ninth grade, the season before they were 0-19,” Blythewood coach Emily Schaeffer said. “They came in and decided that they wanted to change it around. I told them to trust the process, it was going to take a little while, but they worked hard day in and day out, and now they’re getting to feel the moment of back-to-back.”
The second one was a little more difficult than the first. Blythewood had to defeat No. 2 Dorman and No. 4 Mauldin on its way to the title game.
“It’s different,” Shaeffer said. “I will say this one was more pressure trying to go back to back.”
Two of those seniors are Chase Thomas and India Williams. Thomas, who is headed to play at South Carolina State, scored 28 points while Williams, a USC-Aiken commitment, added 20 points. Another senior, Madison Thomas, was a force on the defensive end with eight steals and she added five assists.
“I can’t even think of how to put it into words right now,” Chase Thomas said. “We’ve put in so much work since we started and to see it end in two straight state championships is an unreal feeling. I think it will sink in better later tonight or tomorrow.”
Blythewood trailed 17-9 after one quarter but erased that in the second quarter to take a 30-27 lead into halftime.
Schaeffer said there was no panic in the locker room, but she had a pointed message for her team at the half. The Bengals have eight seniors, and she implored them to give it their all over the final two quarters.
“I challenged them at halftime,” Schaeffer said. “I said, ‘Look, you have 16 (minutes) left of Blythewood basketball. Some of you will play at the next level, some of you aren’t. Give everything you have on this court because you will never put a Blythewood jersey on again.’ I was pleased with the way they responded by shutting it down defensively.”
The coronation of the second title likely came in the third quarter, when the Bengals turned that 30-27 halftime lead into a dominant 48-36 lead after three quarters.
Wando’s Makenna Reynolds scored 19 points in the first half, but the Bengals’ defense locked down on her in the second half and held her scoreless over the final two periods.
Williams scored eight points in that decisive run and Thomas added seven points in the quarter. It was at that point Blythewood (25-5) thought it had a chance to repeat.
“We started slow, but we didn’t give up,” Thomas said. “It was sort of a surreal feeling knowing we were going to win again.”
Wando (22-8) finished third in its region but got hot in the playoffs to make the state finals for the first time since 1980. Bella McKevitt chipped with nine points, but it wasn’t enough for the Warriors to overcome Blythewood.
Blythewood: Chase Thomas 28, India Williams 20, Stovall 3, Fulton 8, Hightower 5, M. Thomas 4 Wando: Makenna Williams 19, McKevitt 9, Crawford 8, Mazyck 4, Rush 3, Lovas 1
This story was originally published March 6, 2026 at 9:01 PM.