Laurens – Jason Marlett believes his Laurens Academy girls basketball team exceeded expectations this season. However, there will always be a tinge of “what if” regarding the year and rightfully so.
That’s because the Crusaders’ star player, senior Olivia Huck, suffered an ankle sprain in the third quarter of a 51-21 victory over Jefferson Davis Academy in the quarterfinals of the SCISA Class A state playoffs. She had already scored 23 points when injured.
Laurens had to face Curtis Baptist without Huck in the semifinals and dropped a 48-39 decision to finish the year with a 24-2 record.
“We started the season short-handed due to injuries, players choosing club volleyball over basketball, and other unexpected circumstances,” said the LA head coach. “However, our players who committed worked hard to improve as the year went on.
“We did just that and won 24 games in a row, including a 10-0 record in the toughest SCISA Class A region in the state (Region 4). We won the region tournament and were playing our best basketball entering the state tournament until an injury severely impacted our team's chances.”
Huck was the Region Player of the Year for the second straight year. Huck, who scored over 1,700 career points, averaged 18.9 points per game to go with 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.5 steals. She was also named to the Region 4 All-Tournament team. Huck shot 44 percent from the field and 76.5 percent from the free throw line.
“She is a great all-around player,” Marlett said of Huck. “Olivia started basketball at Laurens Academy in sixth grade and has been there her entire career.”
Senior point guard Rylee Ballard was also selected All-Region and was named the most valuable player in the region tournament. She averaged 10.2 points, 2.5 assists and 3.0 steals.
Both Huck and Ballard were selected to play in the SCISA North-South All-Star Game.
The other starters were sophomore Madisyn Graham, senior Hannah Ervin and senior Emily Suttles. Graham, whom Marlett calls “a great defender of all positions,” averaged 4.0 points and 6.5 rebounds. She was named to the All-Tournament team for the state tournament.
Ervin averaged 4.5 points and 5.0 rebounds, while Suttles averaged 3.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists.
Eighth-grader Sadie Bruyere was a key contributor off the bench. She averaged 5.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists.
“Our strength was the experience and leadership from our seniors,” Marlett said of his five seniors, the other one being EK Moore. “They were a great group of girls. They were all ladies that have attended Laurens Academy and grown up in our program, which seems to be very rare these days when you look at the successful teams across the state. I am very proud of how they committed and how they came together as a team.”
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