St. George – Both the Dorchester Academy boys and girls basketball teams made spirted runs down the homestretch of their respective seasons, but came up just short of getting to the ultimate goal in the state tournaments.
The Lady Raiders reached the semifinals of the AA state tournament where they dropped a 55-52 overtime decision to Clarendon Hall, a Region 1 foe they had beaten twice during the regular season.
The Dorchester boys were a No. 6 seed in their half of a 6-team bracket. The Raiders opened up against defending state champion St. John’s Christian Academy and came away with a 67-65 victory. They battled with No. 1 seed Dillon Christian School in the quarterfinals before falling by a 69-58 count.
“We had a great ending to the season as we won our first playoff game in a long time, beating the defending state champion, St. John’s Christian Academy,” said Dorchester boys head coach Will Mcalhany, whose team finished with an 11-12 overall record “We lost a hard fought second0round game to No. 1 seed Dillon Christian. I would have liked to finished higher in conference play as we underperformed in a few region matchups that were winnable games.”
Senior Wayland Gruber led the way for the Raiders, averaging a double-double. The All-Region selection averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds a contest.
Despite losing Gruber, McAlhany is excited about next season
“The future seems bright as I started two sophomores, Abe Shuler and John Quattlebuam, every game this year,” he said.
The Dorchester girls were led by three All-Region selections in senior Paige Shelton, senior Krystal Judy and freshman Rylee Weathers. Shelton and Weathers were selected to the SCISA North-South All-Star Game, while Judy was selected to the All-Tournament team for the state tournament.
Shelton averaged 9.0 points and 11.0 rebounds, while Judy averaged 8.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 1.0 assist. Weathers was the leading scorer with an 11.0 average to go with 3.0 steals and 1.0 assist.
The Lady Raiders finished the season with a 14-10 overall record. They earned a No. 3 seed in the state tournament and opened with a 60-20 first-round victory over No. 6 seed Thomas Heyward Academy. Dorchester followed that with a convincing 47-31 victory over No. 2 seed Colleton Prep Academy.
In the semifinal game, DA was led in scoring by Judy with 16 points followed by Shelton with 11. Weathers contributed eight points and Emery McClure had five points.
All Rights Reserved | The High School Sports Report 1986-2021