State Champs! Jacobs’ big night powers Heathwood Hall girls to SCISA basketball title
The Heathwood Hall girls basketball team had two legends in the building for Saturday night’s SCISA Class 4A state championship game.
Now they have a third: Lauren Jacobs.
Jacobs, a sophomore point guard, was lights out and scored 28 points as Heathwood routed Northwood Academy, 79-49, to win its fourth all-time SCISA state championship and first since 2014.
Her performance came with coach Brionna Dickerson-Zimmerman, Heathwood’s all-time leading scorer, roaming the sidelines and WNBA star A’ja Wilson, the centerpiece of Heathwood’s last state title, cheering on from the bleachers at the Sumter Civic Center.
Heathwood (26-1), the No. 1 seed in the SCISA 4A playoffs upper bracket, also got a big game from sophomore guard Sabreya Monsanto (15 points) and sophomore reserve Shamarie Hayes (12 points) to get past Northwood (20-8). The Chargers were appearing in their seventh state championship game over the last nine years.
“Oh gosh, it means everything,” Dickerson-Zimmerman said. “These girls worked so hard over the summer, in the preseason, before practice, after practice. They put the work in, day in and day out. There were days I wanted to cancel practice and they came in the gym without me.”
“So, this is a huge moment for them. Because all that hard work is now ending in the perfect result. And I’m just so proud of them”
The Highlanders led 25-15 after one quarter, 53-26 after two and 68-32 after three, using a relentless combination of full-court press defense and fast-break offense to run wild on Northwood for layup after layup (with many of those coming from Jacobs).
Heathwood, which had previously blown out Augusta Christian and First Baptist in SCISA playoff games, finished the 2022-23 season on a 12-game win streak. Its only loss all season came in a non-conference game to a team from Australia.
Northwood got out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter, but Heathwood rapidly erased that deficit with an 18-0 run of its own.
The Highlanders never trailed again. They were especially dominant in a 28-point second quarter that put Heathwood up 27 points at halftime.
Jacobs, the game’s leading scorer who recently got a scholarship offer from Coastal Carolina and took an unofficial visit to Clemson, had 21 of her 28 points in the first half. She ended with a game-high 28 points despite sitting out a good portion of the second half with an ankle injury.
“I really feel like when we started off in our press and we started getting those steals and turning them into transition layups, that just opened up momentum,” Jacobs said. “And then we just had to keep going. We couldn’t let up.”
Heathwood got a major energy boost in the form of Wilson, a former No. 1 recruit and state champion with the Highlanders who’s since become a WNBA star and MVP with the Las Vegas Aces after a decorated career at South Carolina.
Wilson arrived at the Sumter Civic Center shortly before tipoff and cheered on Heathwood from right behind the team’s bench. During halftime and postgame, she also posed for dozens of photos with fans.
“I had to come out and support,” Wilson said. “The minute Bri told me they were going to the championship game and I saw that they won Thursday, I was like, I have to be in the building. So I got my flight and came out here, and it’s been a joy to watch.”
Heathwood had to wait nine years for its first state championship since Wilson’s team won it all in 2014, but that might not be the case going forward.
The program graduates two senior starters in Emily Frick and Virginia Bowers, but Jacobs, Monsanto and Camillea Gore will all return as starting juniors with state championship experience.
The Highlanders will also return four bench players including sophomore guard Hayes (12 points), sophomore guard Sydney Cunningham (6 points) and freshman guard Amariea Spriggs (5 points).
Consider them an early 2023-24 favorite.
“I’m really excited to keep this going with my teammates and my friends,” Jacobs said.
HH: Lauren Jacobs 28, Sabreya Monsanto 15, Shamarie Hayes 12, Cunningham 6, Gore 6, Spriggs 5, Bowers 4, Frick 3
N: Ryian Howard 13, Morgan Jones 13, Maliyah Birch 12, Byrd 9, Ishie 2
This story was originally published February 25, 2023 at 8:08 PM.
