Girls break through for first semifinal victory in history
FLORENCE – The Blythewood girls’ basketball team faced a difficult third quarter Saturday afternoon—until Sherron Waters launched a near-midcourt three-point shot that fell through the net at the buzzer.
The senior point guard’s shot came seconds after Annie Gillam drained a 3 to give the Patriots their first lead of the game.
That final shot of the third quarter was just what the Bengals needed to finish out a 64-59 victory over J.L. Mann to clinch the team’s 5A Division I upper-state championship at the Florence Center —the team’s first ever state semifinal victory in school history.
“Definitely a big day for the program, and I’m definitely proud of the girls with the way they fought,” second-year head coach Emily McElveen Schaeffer said. “A lot of these girls said this is the biggest game they’ve ever played. This is a historic day for the program, but we’ve got one more step. It’s not done, but we’re going to enjoy this one while we’re here.”
Blythewood will play Summerville (24-3), the lower-state champion by default after Ashley Ridge was ruled ineligible because the team was found to have used an ineligible player after an anonymous caller contacted the South Carolina High School League. The League investigated and ruled the player ineligible, meaning Ashley Ridge’s season was over. The Swamp-Foxes would-be opponent, the Green Wave, advanced to the 5A Division I state final without playing for the lower state title.
Junior forward Chase Thomas, one of several players who were on the 2022 team that went 0-19, said Saturday’s win
“It’s a great feeling,” Thomas said about the Bengals making the state championship game for the first time. “We’ve been putting in the work since June. Every day we’ve been saying we’re going to be here (in the state title game) March 7, and we’re making history today and next week.”
India Williams, who was an eighth grader on the 0-19 team, had 15 points.
“It means a lot,” Williams said. “The three of us, Me, Chase and Hayley (Hightower, who had seven points), we helped turn the program around and it’s an amazing feeling to be here.”
Besides Thomas, India Williams had 15 points and Sherron Waters had 11.
Jade Hailstock led the Patriots with 24 points. Olivia McKinney had 15.
Blythewood (28-2) sank 11 3-pointers in the game, and hit four 3s to open the game to jump to a 20-8 lead by first quarter’s end. The Bengals kept pouring it on with a collection of 3s and field goals outside the lane to take a 37-20 lead by halftime.
“We came out hot in the first half, and that gave us that step that we needed,” McElveen-Schaeffer said. “They’re in the gym every morning, and every afternoon shooting, and it pays off in the end.”
J.L. Mann (21-7) kept nipping at the Bengals’ heels throughout the second and third quarters. Blythewood had trouble getting into the lane to score thanks to J.L. Mann senior Breah Franks. The 6-2, long-armed center blocked several shots and controlled the lane throughout the game. The Patriots’ work under the nets helped them pull even in the final minute of the third quarter.
With the game tied at 44 on the last of Brie Carson’s two foul shots, a Thomas basket put the Bengals back in the lead with to give Blythewood a 46-44 lead with about half a minute to go in the third.
On J.L. Mann’s next possession, Annie Gillam took aim and knocked down the go-ahead 3 with 10 seconds left in the third. That shot closed out the Patriots’ 15-2 scoring run and seemed to clear the way for a sensational comeback.
Waters, the Bengals point guard, launched what was probably the shot of her life. With the time ticking down, Waters raced past midcourt and hurled a quarter-ending 3 that spoiled the Patriots rally and rejuvenated the Bengals.
“We talk day in and day out in practice talking about dealing with adversity, and I think it was a test here tonight,” McElveen-Schaeffer said. “Everything’s not going to go our way all the time, and mentally we’ve got to handle it, and that was part of it there.”
Williams said handling adversity has become a strength with the team, whose only losses came to Dutch Fork early in the season, and to Region 5-5A rival Ridge View in the regular-season finale. The latter loss did not prevent Blythewood from clinching a share of the region title.
“We continued to pick each other up and tell each other, guys we got this,” Williams said. “Just because we’d make a mistake, it’s not the end of the world, just keep pushing.”
When it came down to one last shot to end the quarter, Waters looked to Williams in the heat of the moment as if to pass it to Williams.
“She was looking for me, and I was like no, you shoot it, you shoot it, this is your moment,” Williams said.
After Waters’ shot, the Bengals went on a 10-2 scoring run in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter that put them ahead 59-49 with 5:08 to play.
The Patriots again fought to get back into the game, closing to within 61-59 with less than a minute to go. To make matters worse for Blythewood, Thomas was on the bench with four fouls at that time.
“I was just encouraging them from the bench, telling them to keep in the game, hold onto the ball, waiting for my time to get off the bench,” Thomas said.
Thomas reentered the game in the final stretch, and hit the back end of a pair of foul shots to make it 62-59. In the final seconds Thomas grabbed a rebound that Hayley Hightower took to the net to give the Bengals a 5-point lead with two seconds to go.
Once the buzzer sounded the team crowded into one another at the bench to celebrate the team’s first trip to the state final.
“I give it all to them, nothing on me,” McElveen-Schaeffer said. “It’s the girls that I have, their work ethic day in and day out, doing everything we ask. The glory goes to them.”
With the girls shooting in warmups, the team’s confidence was palpable. Every shot seemed to fall no matter who was shooting or where. Even though the team struggled for shots in the second and third quarters as J.L. Mann took up the slack with transition baskets, the Bengals never lacked confidence.
“Our team chemistry has been great the whole season and it was showing tonight,” Thomas said. “We came to shoot this morning and we were locked in. We knew we were supposed to be here. We were showing Blythewood basketball could do.”
J.L. Mann – 8-20-19-12 – 59
Blythewood – 20-17-12-15 – 64
M – Jade Hailstock 24. Olivia McKinney 15, Richardson 8, Gillam 5, Franks 4, Carson 3. B – Chase Thomas 22, India Williams 15, Sherron Waters 11, Hightower 7, Bosmans 6, Spain 3.
Boys finally snap bad-luck streak against Dorman
FLORENCE – The Blythewood boys’ basketball team’s game-winning rally over Dorman in this year’s 5A Division 1 upper-state championship game may well have been one of the quietest 13-1 scoring run.
The Bengals put together four shots and three foul shots together over the course of the five-minute final stretch, while shutting down the Cavaliers. However unnoticeable the run may have been Saturday at the Florence Center, it produced the Bengals’ 46-45 victory over Dorman to earn the upper-state championship and send Blythewood to the first state championship game since 2017.
“The fellas just pulled it out and didn’t give up,” Blythewood head coach Zeke Washington said. “I was just sitting there, going along for the ride. I still can’t believe that we’re in the state championship, but we are. I wish I could take some credit, but it’s all on those guys. They just did not give up and made some shots. It’s a testament to them.”
The Bengals (23-5) will take on Region 5-5A arch rival Ridge View at the Florence Center Friday at 8 p.m. The Blazers (22-7) beat James Island 63-43 earlier in the day.
Dorman (24-5) was a team that always seemed to get away from the Bengals dating back to their 5A state championship game in 2017—the Cavaliers won the first of three state titles with a 54-53 win on a tip-in in the final seconds. More recently was Dorman’s come-from-behind 63-58 playoff win at Blythewood last year.
On Saturday, the Cavaliers led 44-33 after Grant Aiken-Ross’s putback with 5:08 to go.
“Coach Washington said we’ve been in tough situations,” Lewis said about Blythewood’s rally in the final stretch. “We knew all the discipline we went through in practice, the film and everything we’ve been through prepared us for the moment, so we kept our head down and locked in and go the win.”
Over the course of those five-minutes, Blythewood somehow sneaked in four baskets and three foul shots, while effectively shutting down Dorman’s offense. Keenan Arcega-Whiteside, who had seven points from the start of the fourth, had worked the Cavaliers into position for the win, but the Bengals shut Arcega-Whiteside down for the rest of the game.
“We tried to do it without trapping,” Washington said. “We’ve been able to press without trapping all year and the guys just did good.”
The final basket came when T.J. Lewis squared up behind the 3-point arc on the right side of the court with 25 seconds to go and drained the 3 that tied the game at 45.
“He’s just good. He’s a player,” Washington said. “This is what he said at the end, he said Coach, just give me the ball and I’m going to make it happen. So I said hey fellas, just give him the ball and he’s gonna make it happen.”
The final foul shot came after Torrean Sims got a defensive rebound on Dorman’s next possession. After Blythewood crossed mid court and held the ball in front of the Blythewood bench, Washington called a timeout with eight seconds to go. When play resumed, Dorman’s Peden Breazeale fouled Lewis with 2.6 seconds left.
Lewis, who was 5-for-7 in foul shots at that point, strode to the free-throw line hit the first shot to give Blythewood a 46-45 lead. While his second shot careened off the rim, the one-point advantage on the scoreboard held.
“I knew we just needed points. It just came down to stops at the end,” Lewis said. “On the dead ball Coach Washington called time out, and I knew I wanted the ball. I trusted my reps, I put in enough work for this situation, I told my teammates just give me the ball and I would take the shot, and they did. It worked out the way God intended it to.”
When Lewis’ second foul shot bounced off the rim, he tried to go for the rebound, but Arcega-Whiteside knocked the ball out of bounds. Blythewood’s Elijah Major inbounded the ball from the baseline to Torrean Sims, who held onto the ball as the final two seconds ticked away.
The Bengals’ bench leapt from their seats to jump and holler with their on-court teammates.
“Dorman’s had our number so many times. We played them in the first 5A championship, and that is a great program. Coach (Ryan) Thomas is a great coach, and we just happened to win this one,” Washington said. “Just for us to get over the hump and get into the state championship is big. I give all the credit to the players.”
Having the girls and boys play for state championships on the same day is something new to Washington, who coached Fairfield Central boys to a 3A state title in 1998 and the Chester girls to a 3A state crown in 2004.
“This is the first time we had both teams make it to the state that I’ve been a part of, so that’s special,” Washington said. “And our teams are close. We’re very, very close. Once we’d seen them play well, we have to do the same.”
With the state championship set up to be the third showdown of the season between head coach Josh Staley’s Blazers and the Bengals, Washington noted that the finalists are a tribute to Richland Two school district, the Northeast Columbia area, and the support among the schools and parents.
“Ridge View’s a great program, and to get a chance to play them for the third time is something that we wanted to do,” Washington said. “It’s great for the Northeast community, it’s great for District 2 and a testament to District 2 for supporting us so well that we can achieve something like this.”
Blythewood – 14-7-9-16 – 46
Dorman – 11-14-12-8 – 45
B – T.J. Lewis 21, Mack 9, Stephens 6, Little 6, Sims 4. D – Jaden Johnson 22, Keenan Arcega-Whiteside 10, Aiken-Ross 5, Bruton-Smith 5, Bush 2, Breazeale 1.
