Ridge View’s up-tempo attack wears out Jeter and Spartanburg
Ridge View coach Terrence Gibson wanted to make things as difficult as possible for Spartanburg’s Kionna Jeter.
The Blazers did that by employing an up-tempo style of offense to wear down Jeter and run as many different people at her in the 89-53 win over the Vikings Tuesday in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.
The seventh-ranked Blazers will travel to No. 2 Greenville, 58-37 winners over Fort Mill, on Friday in the second round.
“We wanted to make the game as quick as possible for her,” Gibson said. “We didn’t want her to rest on offense or defense. We wanted to make her earn every point. She is such a great explosive scorer. We just wanted to make sure we kept her off the glass and made sure we guarded her and we did that.”
Jeter, the third leading girls’ scorer in the history of South Carolina High School League, finished with 21 points in her final high school game, and 3,088 points for her career. Only Ivory Latta (4,319) and Allison Feaster (3,427) scored more points.
But she wasn’t much of a factor.
Defensively, Gibson used seven players to guard Jeter during the game, which was dominated from the outset by the Blazers. Ridge View (18-6) led 16-4 after the first three minutes and scored a season-high 35 points in the first quarter, leading 35-20.
The Blazers’ 89 points also were a season high and most scored since defeating Adelphi Christian 94-34 in Dec. 2010.
“We wanted to get as many easy baskets as possible and it made our transition defense better,” Gibson said.
Juniors Laura Ajukwa and Armanii Grice benefited from those transition opportunities and set career highs in the win. Ajukwa, who came into the game averaging 6.7 points scored 27 points, including 12 in the first quarter.
Grice, an all-region selection, added 25 points, including three 3-pointers. Gennell Addison added 16 points for the Blazers, who lost 88-64 to Spartanburg (17-7) in the second round last year.
“This year it was different because we focused more on defense instead of offense,” Grice said. “When you play defense, your offense will come. We executed that game plan and got the victory.”
“The intensity was right and all we had to do was work hard and play defense and the offense will come,” Ajukwa said.
S: Moore 5, Saratt 8, Kelsi Cunningham 13, Kionna Jeter 21, Sims 4, Yex 2. RV: Laura Ajukwa 27, Gennell Addison 17, Armanii Grice 25, Tisdale 2, Wilson 4, Gainey 7, Harts 7.
This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 10:58 PM.