It was a year to remember for high school basketball in the Midlands
Gray Collegiate basketball coach Dion Bethea isn’t tired of looking at the state championship trophy yet.
Three weeks after the War Eagles won the Class 2A state championship, the trophy remains on his office with a cut-down net wrapped around it.
“Every day I walk in, it is the first thing I see,” Bethea said. “We gave a tour to a couple of families today, and they were looking at the trophy case for the state championship trophy — you don’t have to worry about going in there just yet. It is on my desk. I love having it up here.”
Like Bethea, Spring Valley girls’ coach Megan Assey is trying to savor her team’s championship memories for the season. Shortly after the Vikings’ win against Wade Hampton, Assey stood outside her team’s locker room trying to take in what her team accomplished.
“I took a short breath to capture the looks on their faces. There was such joy and elation for what they just achieved,” Assey said. “Of course, this could have been that they were about to douse their head coach with ice and water to get even for all those line drills, but nonetheless, I will never forget staring into that locker room and realizing that this was a moment that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.”
Gray Collegiate and Spring Valley were two of six Midlands teams winning state championships, giving the area one of its best championship hauls in recent memory. The Ridge View boys, Newberry and Keenan girls also won South Carolina High School League championships. Hammond's girls won the SCISA 3A title.
The five SCHSL championships in one season ties the most for Midlands teams in one year. The only other time it happened was in 1994 when Eau Claire and Irmo boys and Columbia, Dreher and Lower Richland girls won championships.
Of the championship winners, Ridge View’s was the most dramatic. Blazers’ center Malcolm Wilson blocked Frederick Mullins’ 3-point attempt with two seconds left and hit a free throw for the 74-70 win against Wilson for the Class 4A title.
“We just wanted to come in and prove all the doubters wrong. We were doubted all summer and throughout the year, but now we are here and we won a state championship,” Ridge View guard Walyn Napper said following the game. “And it is not just for us, it is for the community. They put in a lot of hard work for us this season.”
For Ridge View, Gray Collegiate and Newberry, these were their first titles. Hammond’s title was its 11th but first since 1992. Both the Hammond and Keenan squads started the season slowly. The Skyhawks lost their first four games while the Raiders started 1-6 before winning 17 of their final 18 games on their way to their state title.
“Even when we were 0-4, they came to practice like they were 0-4,” Hammond coach Roshan Myers said. “And when you got good players and good student-athletes that believe in your program, you can do it.”
“It was tough, but the girls pulled together,” Keenan coach Reggie McLain said after defeating Mullins, 51-28, for the 2A crown. “After playing all those tough games early in the year, we knew once we got into the region we could put our foot down and get momentum in our favor.”
Both Gray Collegiate and Newberry dealt with adversity leading up to the championship games. Less than a week before the win against Carvers Bay, War Eagles freshman Tiquan Taylor was shot and killed.
Bethea and the team rallied around Taylor’s memory in the win against Carvers Bay and put a spot to remember him by on their state championship rings.
The Bulldogs lost senior and all-state performer Rayanna Davis a day after winning their third-round game against Pendleton. Davis suffered injuries from a car accident on her way to school.
Via Facetime, the senior watched from her hospital room as the Bulldogs defeated Seneca in the 3A Upper State championship. A week later, Davis surprised her teammates and showed up at Colonial Life Arena before Newberry took the court against Ridgeland-Hardeeville.
The Bulldogs went on to defeat the Jaguars, 57-50.
“It was great just to have her there. In the Pendleton game (third round), it was so close and she brought us through,” Newberry coach Melissa Mendenhall said. “There were times where she was crying because she thought she was going to lose the game for us. But she brought us through that game.
“So we had to win this for her.”
This story was originally published March 24, 2018 at 3:04 PM with the headline "It was a year to remember for high school basketball in the Midlands."