After Half-time Deadlock, Walhalla Rallies For 52-37 Win Over Dillon To Earn First Ever AAA
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Florence—The Dillon High and Walhalla High girls’ basketball teams were ranked 1-2 in the HSSR AAA rankings a month ago, so it was no surprise that the two teams met in the SCHSL championship game at the Florence Center on March, 6.
After the game, Walhalla head coach Byron Wimphrie commented, “Our goal at the start of the season was to compete for a state title, and every day was an opportunity to get better and prepare for a game, and a moment like this,” said Coach Wimphrie. “After we were tied at the half, I told the girls to go out and win the first four minutes of the third quarter.
“ I think they did a good job of doing that and staying together and not getting emotionally upset,” said Coach Wimphrie. “This game had a lot of contact and it was a very physical game.
“I knew we were the taller team so we wanted to get the ball down into the post as much as possible,” said Coach Wimphrie. “We tried to slow the pace of the game down also because Dillon was very quick with a guard focused team.”
Coach Wimphire paid a tribute to his key players. “Annie Campbell, Kami Roach, Gianna Ortiz, Miley White, and Mara Chappell have been playing together for a very long time, including AAU in the summer, so this is a great moment for them,” said Coach Wimphrie. “They have been preparing for games like this one today for a long time.”
Roach, a very talented junior who is under HSSR consideration for AAA Player of the Year shared her feelings after the game. “We wanted this state championship so bad,” she said. “It was a day one goal of ours when the season began.
“We started the game slowing things down, and I felt like we were forcing passes early in the game,” said Roach. “We settled down in the second half, focused better, and I feel like that is what helped us come out on top in the game.”
Dillon head coach James McMillian completed his 9th season in the state finals against Walhalla. “In our win over Oceanside the other day we had fewer fans from Dillon in the stands and the girls seemed to not be as emotional or nervous as they were in this game,” said Coach McMillian. “Today we had many more fans in the stands like proud relatives of our players and this seemed to make them play more nervus for some reason. The moment was a little big for them.
“We needed some key baskets and some key rebounds to finish the deal today but we missed a lot of shots that we normally make,” said Coach McMillian. “We knew coming into the game that Walhalla was the much taller team. At half-time we decided to put Alyssa Lee (5-10) in the line-up to start the third quarter to give us more height in the paint.
“Then when they got a big lead, we went with five guards to pick up the tempo but turnovers and there three-point shooting hurt our chances to get back in the game,” said Coach McMillian. “We are a very young team and I am very proud of this group winning the first Lower State championship ever for Dillon girls’ basketball, and to compete for a state championship is also very special.”
Next season the team will continue to grow around talented freshman Treasure Davis who scored 18 points in the game. “Treasure is just a freshman with a very bright future and we will continue to grow the team around her next season along with our talented sophomore Khw’Nylahi McKinnon. These two players give us a solid foundation for next season.”
Coach McMillian also cited the contributions of graduating seniors Za’Daiya Moody, Ayonna Lester, and Mariah Campbell as they move on.
After the two teams battled to a 18-18 deadlock at the half, Wahalla used their height advantage for numerous second chance shots in the paint, and they connected on seven three pointers to pull away for a 52-37 win, earning their school their first ever girls’ basketball state title.
A huge crowd of Walhalla supporters made the 182-mile trip from the upstate to the Florence center and they were loud and proud throughout the contest.
In the third period Walhalla outscored the Lady Wildcats 15-9 to enter the final quarter with a 33-27 lead. After Dillon’s Khw’Nylahi McKinnon began the third period with a three-point shot to put Dillon ahead 21-18, the Razorbacks went on a 7-0 run to take a 25-21 lead with 4:40 left in the quarter.
During the run Walhalla scored two inside baskets from Gianna Ortiz and Annie Campbell before junior Kami Roach nailed a dead-eye “nothing but net” three- point shot from well beyond the top of the key arc. Walhalla’s next basket was a three-pointer made by Campbell that gave her team a four-point lead at the time.
When Miley White scored either team’s final basket in the third period, on a lay-up, it gave Walhalla a 33-27 entering final quarter and either team still looked strong enough to win the game. Dillon’s Treasure Davis scored on an inside move to cut the deficit to 33-29 on the first basket made by either team to start the quarter.
However, Walhalla went on an 11-2 run after the Davis basket to lead 44-31 with 4:20 left in the game. Campbell started the run with a three pointer from the corner. Thirty seconds later (6:31) she “banked in” a second three-pointer from the deep corner, and the way the ball banked in off the glass from the deep corner might have made fans at the game feel like basketball god was smiling on Walhalla for some reason.
After the 11-2 run, Dillon scored on back-to-back baskets by Azyriah Ford and Davis to trim the lead to 46-35 with 3:11 to go. From that point Walhalla finished the game out-scoring Dillon 6-2, for a final victory of 52-27.
The top scorers for Walhalla were Miley White with 14 points, including 13 rebounds, three assists and two steals. Annie Campbell was next on the score index with 13 points, five rebounds, and two assists. Kami Roach finished with 10 points, 9 rebounds, four assists, one block, and a team high seven steals.
Gianna Ortiz contributed 9 points for Walhalla including 11 rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots, and one steal. Mara Chappell contributed four points and five rebounds and Ashlyn Frick closed out the scoring for the Razorbacks with two points.
Dillon was led by talented freshman Treasure Davis with 18 points, 8 rebounds, three assists, six steals, and two blocked shots. McKinnon was next on the points index with 9, including five steals, four rebounds, and one assist. Ayonna Lester contributed seven points, five rebounds, and four steals to the Wildcat efforts. The remaining two scorers for Dillon were Ford and Alyssa Lee who contributed two and one points respectively.
