Dreher girls come up clutch to win Class 3A crown

Jhileiya Dunlap made a promise to her teammates in the locker room after Dreher lost to Lancaster in last season’s Upper State final. She felt she let her team down and didn’t want to suffer that disappointment in her senior year.

“I told my team after last year my goal was to take them to the championship,” the UNC-bound senior said. “It was going to be my redemption for us losing last year. As soon as we lost to Lancaster last year, I went in the locker room and told my teammates I was sorry we lost. It was my fault. I told them we were going to do everything we could to make it back here.”

Dunlap lived up to her word, but it wasn’t easy.

The Blue Devils had to withstand a huge fourth quarter rally from Myrtle Beach, but Kamryn Lemon made two big plays in the final minutes to give Dreher its third state title in five seasons, a 45-41 win over the Seahawks Saturday in the Class 3A girls championship at Colonial Life Arena.

Coach Teresa Jones and several of her players got emotional at mid court while they were awaiting the trophy presentation.

“It feels a little sweeter. I’m not sure why but it does. The other two, it was a blow out and this one we had to keep our composure, pull together as a team and fight for it,” Jones said. “We were a bit overwhelmed because it was some of the girls first being here. Jhileiya broke down, so that caused me to break down.”

It looked for a while Dreher (27-1) was going to have an easy time of it. The Blue Devils used a 13-0 run in the first half to expand a two-point lead into a 20-9 advantage. Myrtle Beach (25-2) went seven minutes without a point.

Dreher held its biggest lead at 34-21, but that’s when the Seahawks began chipping away.

It was 41-29 when Myrtle Beach went on a 12-0 run, and it tied the score on a basket by Kiana Adderton with 2:13 remaining. But the Seahawks wouldn’t score again.

Lemon tipped away an inbounds pass and took it the length of the floor for a layup to give Dreher the lead for good with 1:16 left. The Seahawks turned it over on their next possession and Lemon had an assist to Carla Brown with 51 seconds to seal the win.

“Coach said we had to have the ball,” the junior point guard said. “I knew they were going to try and go on the back and I was able to tip it. I took it and made the layup. Coach said we can win it now or go home. We knew what time it was and we knew we had to make big plays.”

The Big three of Lemon, Dunlap and junior Jaelynn Murray led the way. They combined for 36 of the 45 points and scored 17 of 19 in the second half.

Lemon played in the Class 3A title game last season with Lakewood before transferring to Dreher. She finished with 14 points and three steals. Dunlap added 12 points and six blocks, while Murray recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Dunlap had three fouls in the first half, but still played 28 minutes.

Jones had to fire her team up when Myrtle Beach made the big fourth-quarter run, and she was happy to see her team respond.

“We emphasized the fact that every good team is going to make a run,” Jones said. “They came out and wanted it just as bad as we did, so we expected them to make some adjustments and come out firing. We had to focus, regain our composure and buckle back down.”

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 8:01 PM.