Richard Winn girls claim fourth basketball title in a row
This has become the standard ending to the season for the Richard Winn girls basketball team.
Reach the Class A SCISA state title game and bring home the trophy – just like the previous three years.
Not that winning No. 4 Saturday was easy, especially when the Eagles looked up at a nine-point deficit against Dorchester in the second quarter.
“We’ve won it all three years, so everybody’s wanting to beat us,” said Richard Winn junior point guard Alyssa Atkerson said. “They came out swinging. We just had to stay in it and stay confident. We couldn’t get ourselves down.”
The Eagles’ defense roared to life, feeding a transition game, and when the clock ran out, Richard Winn had a 43-30 victory to send the seniors off as champions once more. Center Jaycie Johnson was the only member of the team that closed a season without a title – she was on a state runner-up squad in eighth grade – and she got to cap a decorated career.
“It’s an honor,” Johnson said.
Johnson posted 18 points for the Eagles (26-1), often finishing fast breaks. Despite foul trouble, Atkerson added 10 and Marion Walker Coleman added nine in her final high school game.
Julia Smoak led Dorchester (25-6) with 12 points before fouling out, but her team committed 30 turnovers that fueled the Eagles’ prolific transition game.
“We followed our gameplan in the first half,” Raiders coach Anthony McAlhaney said. “Second half, we got away from it. Of course, they forced us to because of a couple steals and the momentum kind of shifted and we panicked.”
His team limited Richard Winn to 20.8 percent shooting in the first two quarters, but led by only a point. Then the Raiders lost 10 turnovers in the third quarter and Richard Winn led by eight.
Richard Winn coach Jason Haltiwanger said when his team trailed, it turned to Johnson and Coleman. He’s coached Johnson since sixth grade, and got to watch his group end a season the only way they’ve ever known: as champs.
“It’s a blessing,” Haltiwanger said. “It’s a good group of girls that have committed to working for a higher purpose.”
D: Julianna Smoak 12, McAlhaney 9, Gray 8, Vann 1. RW: Jaycie Johnson 18, Alyssa Atkerson 10, Coleman 9, Taylor 4, Wilder 2.
This story was originally published February 27, 2016 at 1:44 PM.