Both Cathedral SCISA AA Teams Advance To State Finals, Bethesda Boys Advance To Challenge Cathedral At Sumter Civic Center On Saturday
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Sumter — The SCISA AA Cathedral girls’ basketball team defeated Patrick Henry, 45-22 to advance to the finals on Saturday against Clarendon Hall, while the Cathedral boys’ team will be playing in the finals for the third year in a row, with a 70—40 win over Andrew Jackson Academy on Thursday night at Wilson Hall.
In the final game of the night, at Wilson Hall, the Bethesda Academy boys over-came a 37-34 half-time deficit against Dillon Christian to advance to challenge Cathedral at 2:30 on Saturday at the Sumter Civic Center with a 77-65 win.
The Cathedral girl’s play Clarendon Hall at 1 p.m. in Sumter on Saturday while the SCISA finals start at 11 a. m. with the SCISA Class A boy’s finals between Curtis Baptist and Riverpointe Christian. In AAA boy’s action, Hilton Head Prep faces the Christian Academy Myrtle Beach at 5 p.m. in the final event of the day at the USC Beaufort Civic Center. At 7 p.m. in SCISA AAA girl’s action, Hilton Head Christian goes for six- straight titles in a row when they face local rival John Paul II at the USC Beaufort gym, located a few miles off I-95 Exit 8 towards Hilton Head island.
In the Cathedral girl’s game, the senior trio of Jalyn Almeida, Claire Griffin, and Julie DeSouza led the Generals on offense once again with 15, 11, and 9 points respectively. Madison Jackson and Jovie Mom contributed four points each.
Patrick Henry (12-8) was led on offense by Lillian Lucas with 11 points and six rebounds. Laney Futch had four points and 11 rebounds while Saquoia Sexton and Mills Lucas had four and three points respectively.
Issac Brown is the head Cathedral girl’s coach and the athletic director at his school. He told the HSSR after the win, “We are hoping to win a back-to-back state title after winning last year,” said Coach Brown. “We have a core group of seniors that I like to call our three-headed monster. Jalyn Almeida, Claire Griffin, and Julie DeSouza are all senior leaders who have been on the team for a while. They make us go on both sides of the ball and they experienced a state championship last year.
“Clarendon Hall gave us fits in both the games we played them this season, so we are expecting a very competitive game from them on Saturday,” said Coach Brown. The Generals defeated CH by six points the last time they play them this season.
In Cathedral’s (25-9) boy’s win over AJA talented freshman Bryce Ward poured in 28 points with seven steals and four rebounds while junior AJ Gresham had 22 points, six assists, five rebounds, and two steals in the win. Junior JJ Meadows chipped in 8 points and 9 rebounds also. The other two starters are junior Kaden Whittedge and Tom Felix. The Generals have no senior players on the team.
Head Generals coach Blake Ferguson told the HSSR, “It feels good to be playing in our third state championship and it is all about hard work and dedication, and putting Christ first,” said Coach Ferguson. “Our motto is to go so hard in practice that the games are easy.
“Bryce Ward is a special freshman player,” said Coach Ferguson. “The only person that can ever get in his way is himself. He fast, athletic, with a high basketball I-Q. He has a quick first step a lot of players don’t have. It is fun coaching and molding him every day. He could end up being among the best players to ever come out of SCISA.
“Very proud of our defense for limiting AJA to just 11 points in the second half,” said Coach Ferguson. “We made some adjustments at the half that worked out well for us.”
Bethesda, a very athletic team with several players 6-2 or taller, rallied in the second half against Dillon Christian to win 77-65 after trailing by three points at the half.
Clyde Wormley is in his first year as the head coach at Bethesda. “As the game wore-on, I felt like our over-all depth wore them down and some of our shots that were not dropping in the first half suddenly starting falling in the second half, ” said Coach Wormley. “We talked at halftime about getting rebounds and getting out faster in transition and that helped us make several easy baskets in the second half.:
Bethesda was led on offense in the win by 6-1 senior point guard Israel Wright who had 24 points. Senior guard Ashton Wright had 21 points along with 6-3 senior forward Jacari Wright who had 18 points.
“These are the three players we have been leaning on all year,” said Coach Wormley. “All three of them played well on defense also.
“If we play good defense, and take care of the ball against their pressure, we should have a competitive game against Cathedral,” said Coach Wormley. “They are well-coached with several outstanding players also.”
Junior guard Jackson Outlaw, an outstanding three-sport athlete at Dillon Christian, led the Warriors with 34 points. Junior Thomspon Stone contributed 24 points while Sean Locklear chipped in six points. The Warriors are coached by veteran Bo Stone, a graduate of NC State.
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