Mauldin tops Spring Valley in SC girls’ basketball 5A Upper State championship game
Spring Valley coach Megan Assey tried every defensive combination to try and slow down Mauldin.
None worked.
The Mavs’ young guards and the fast pace were a little too much as Mauldin defeated the Vikings, 67-50, in the Class 5A Upper State championship Monday at Bob Jones University.
The Mavs will make their second state championship appearance in school history Saturday when they face Stratford at 5:30 p.m., at USC Aiken. Their only previous state final appearance came in 1997.
“I feel like we pulled every stop, from our press, to trying full-court jump trap, man-to-man, 3-2 zone, box-and-one on 0 (Trinity Jones),” Assey said. “We just couldn’t get stops. When you come this far in the playoffs, it is about knocking down shots and timely execution on defense. I just felt we weren’t at our best.”
The Vikings came into the game, giving up just 45.6 points a game.
Spring Valley advanced to the state semifinals with its full-court pressure and big comeback in the third round against Dorman. The Vikings rallied from 10 points down in the final three minutes to win.
On Monday, the Vikings trailed by as many as 16 points in the third quarter and got to 57-45 with in the middle of the fourth, but the Mavs responded with a 6-0 run to put the game away.
Jones, a sophomore, and freshman Zara Leamon led the way with 17 points apiece. The two guards are part of a young nucleus which includes three sophomores, a freshman and an eighth grader.
“We have been telling them all week that Spring Valley was a great defensive team and we had to be strong and tough and take care of the basketball,” Mauldin coach Angel McGowan said. “They came to play and were ready today.”
Imari Humphrey, Zie’l Ratchford and Lauren Crosland each had nine points to lead SV.
Assey called Monday’s loss a good step for the program to get it back where she wants it to be. The Vikings made it to back-to-back championship appearances in 2018-19, but hadn’t made it past the first round again until this year.
“We far exceeded expectations this year,” Assey said. “This is a learning lesson for everyone. These seniors were able to do things that put us back on the map and made us a top team in the state. … But life is about failure and responding to failure. I have no doubt that we will learn from this, grow from this and come back even stronger.”
Scoring summary
M: Trinity Jones 17, Zara Leamon 17, Destiny Mattison 12, Imani McIver 9, Delilah Soltys 8, Zaria Jones 2, Ella Davenport 2. SV: Imari Humphrey 9, Zie’l Ratchford 9, Lauren Crosland 9, Madison Entzminger 8, JaiDah Liebert 6, Te’Yana Green 4, Logan Smith 3, Gabby Lemons 2.
This story was originally published February 27, 2023 at 8:32 PM.
