Eidson Achieves Milestone With 700th Win
Summerville—Don’t be confused by the 14-8 record of the Pinewood Prep boy’s basketball team as they are 5-0 in their region, and remain one of the favored teams to win the SCISA AAA basketball title in Sumter later this month.
The HSSR would like to congratulate Pat Eidson on his 700th career win in late December. Only three boy’s coaches in the history of the state of South Carolina have won 700 or more games. Eidson joins Earl Brown of Burke and John Smith of Great Falls in this elite company.
The Panthers are 12-1 against SCISA teams this year. Their lone setback came on Jan. 30 to Charleston Collegiate, 88-70. The team has played in several out of state tournaments where they took on top flight teams to prepare themselves for the upcoming SCISA playoffs that start Feb., 14.
Pinewood Prep Girl’s Ever Improving As SCISA Playoffs Near
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Summerville—A the defending girl’s AAA SCISA champions in South Carolina the Pinewood Prep girls’ basketball team hopes to finish strong and secure some momentum for the upcoming playoffs.
With their lopsided 75-19 win over Ashley Hall on Jan. 31 the Panthers improved to 14-6, 6-1 and although they still have games with Porter-Gaud, Cardinal Newman, and Hilton Head Prep all eyes are pointing to their game with Northwood Academy on Valentine’s Day. If Pinewood could win that game over the Chargers it would create a tie for the region crown. Earlier in the season Northwood defeated Pinewood.
“Our rivalry with Northwood is pretty intense and it used to be that Hilton Head Prep and Northwood were huge rivals but recently our games with Northwood have decided region championships or state champions so when that starts happening on a consistent basis you certainly do create a rivalry situation,” said head coach Nancy Beatty (286-120) now in her 10th season at Pinewood Prep..
One of the Panthers big wins this season came over AAAA Wando, 62-53 when the Panthers outscored the Warriors, 19-8 in the final period. “In that game all five of our starters played as well as a unit as they have all year,” said ten year Pinewood Prep head coach Nancy Beatty. “It will take that time of group effort to beat Northwood Academy and get back to the championship game. That is our goal now and it will be our goal every year.”
In the SCISA girl’s AAA poll in late January the top four teams in order were Heathwood Hall, Northwood, Pinewood Prep and Augusta Christian. Last year Pinewood beat Northwood in the SCISA finals to claim their second state title under Coach Beatty.
Last year the Panthers were 9-10 deep in talent and this year in big games Pinewood Prep have mainly used their five starters with little bench support. They graduated four seniors off of last year’s team, three of them starters.
The team continues to get stellar play from 5-9 talented junior Maria Corella at 12.7 points, four rebounds, and she is making 80 per cent of her free throws. “Maria really turned in on in the second half of our loss with Northwood (59-44) when she was 5 of 7 from the floor and scored 11 of her 13 points in the final period,” said Coach Beatty. “She’s starting to play at the same level she did late in her sophomore year. She’s a next level player for someone.”
Junior post player Jennifer Rhodes had 19 points against Ashley Hall and she is about 90 per cent recovered from a bad fall that hurt her back in a game against Goose Creek earlier in the season. She is averaging 10.7 points, 9 rebounds, and she has 48 blocked shots this season. Rhodes is also shooting 53 per cent from the floor.
Coach Beatty continues to praise the play of junior point guard Raygon Hendrix. “She comes to play in games and practice and she has a great work ethic and a great attitude,” said Coach Beatty. Hendrix is scoring 9.4 points a game and has a team leading 68 steals. She is also leading in assists at 4.7 per game.
The team’s top scorer to date is Bri Boyd who is scoring 14.9 points a game and she is getting 9 rebounds a game. “Bri has come in and picked up our offensive production that we lost when Shelby, Megan, and Kelcie graduated last year,” said Coach Beatty. “She is also a great force inside in terms of rebound and blocked shots.”
Future LPGA star Katelyn Dambaugh, who has verbally committed to USC in golf, rounds out the starting five. Dambaugh is a three point specialist.
Key reserve players include senior forward Marrisa Patton, sophomore point guard Sarah Dees, junior forward Javlyn Hooks, 8th grade newcomer Kaylee Kemp, sophomore guard Caroline Chester, and sophomore post player Kinsey Baughman. Sophomore Sarah Kothis has been injured for most of the season.
Coach Beatty said her team has its’ best chance to win when they are making easy baskets, forcing mistakes on defense that leads to easy baskets, and they are having a bad game when they are missing easy shots and have major break downs on defense. “When we are on we are hard to beat,” said Coach Beatty. “
