Andrew Jackson wins second consecutive AA girls basketball state championship

         Florence – The Andrew Jackson High School  girls basketball team has been dominant all season, not just during the regular season but in the post season as well. The Volunteers didn’t disappoint in that regard in defending their AA state championship in the title game on Saturday at Florence Center.

       AJ blew the game completely open in the second quarter and rolled to an 89-36 victory over Eau Claire.

       Andrew Jackson finished the season with a 28-3 record, outscoring its opposition 78.8 points per game to an even 32.0 points.

       This was actually the closest margin of victory for the Volunteers in the playoffs at 53 points. Their other wins were 79-5 over Barnwell, 100-41 over Marion, 99-45 over Atlantic Collegiate Academy and 96-33 over Lake City.

       AJ head coach Steven Fair expressed some concern for his team following its Lower State title win over Lake City on Tuesday.

       “I was worried Wednesday and Thursday because we didn’t practice well at all,” said Fair, who now has two championship rings in three seasons as head coach. “Everybody was in the training room getting ice baths and treatments and then yesterday they just turned it on. I was very pleased and had a sigh of relief. We practice them really hard. Anything can happen so we try to make sure everyone is ready to go.”

`      The Volunteers were led by the duo of senior center Tamia Watkins  and junior wing Ni’Yonna Asbelle. The 6-foot-2-inch Watkins, who has signed to play collegiately with NCAA Division I Elon, actually bettered her double-double average of 30.1 points and 14.2 rebounds coming into the contest. She had a game high 31 points as well as a game high 15 rebounds. Watkins also had a team high two blocked shots to go with four assists and two steals.

       Watkins barely bettered Asbelle, who finished with a career high 30 points. Asbelle got her points on just 15 shots, connecting on 13 of them while hitting all four of her free throw attempts. She also finished with a double-double as she pulled in 11 rebounds to go with three steals and two assists.

       AJ jumped out to an 8-0 lead on baskets from Leah Shropshire, Watkins, Asbelle and Watkins again less than two minutes into the game.

 The Shamrocks didn’t let it get out of hand at that point though, breaking into the scoring column on an Ayjiah Motley  jumper with 5:25 to go. An Anyla Demas 3-point basket made it 8-5 and a Milaysha Chisholm trey with 2:46 left cut the lead to 10-8.

 Andrew Jackson outscored the Shamrocks 11-4 over the remainder of the quarter for a 21-12 lead. Asbelle ha 13 of the points.

“We just knew we had to come out here and dominate,” said Asbelle, who was averaging 19.9 points entering the game. “I felt like we played more together overall this year. Playing together, communicating together, having a bond. We share the ball, get it up the court to one another. We continued to play together.”

        AJ took complete control of the game in the second quarter, scoring the first 12 points. Eau Claire managed just four points in the quarter, the first two coming on a Sytyria Bethel  basket to make it 33-14. The Volunteers’ mixing pressure defenses simply throttled EC the rest of the way.

       “We kept pushing but we just didn’t play our style of basketball today,” said EC head coach Ashley Gilmore.

 AJ, which led 39-16 at halftime, used its pressure defense to force 32 turnovers, 19 of them coming off of steals. Watkins, who can be an enforcer on the back end of the press but also sees plenty of time up top, said the variety leads to the effectiveness. 

“We try to give each team a different look,” she said. “We might come out in a man and then switch it up, try and get them off their game. It usually works as we’ve got a lot of different presses. Every time it’s a dead ball we just come out there with something different.”

 The Volunteers continued to pour it on in the second half. They led 64-27 after three quarters. AJ’s biggest lead came on the game’s final basket, a 3-pointer by junior Bella Marcum.

Fair said he and his coaching staff focus on putting together a stout defensive plan each game. If that comes to fruition, the rest will take care of itself.

“We try to put together a strong defensive plan,” he said. “We know the offense will be there as long as we’re solid on the defensive end of the ball.”

 Senior guard Emiley McCall  also reached double figures scoring with 10 points, matching her season average. She had a team high five steals to go with two assists.

       Starting senior forward Shropshire also had a solid game with six points, three rebounds, two assists and three steals, while sophomore Trinity Delly had two points, five rebounds, two assists, three steals and one block.

 Tiara Knox had six points, Marcum had three and Alexa Fair  had one.

 Eau Claire finished with an 18-9 record in reaching a state championship game for the first time since 1998 when it played for the AAA crown. The Shamrocks advanced to the title game by beating Clinton, which they lost to twice in the regular season to finish second in Region 3, for the Upper State crown.

Gilmore is proud of the run her team made to get to the title game.

 “I’m going to remember how they persevered and overcame all of the doubters,” she said. “There were a lot of odds against us. A lot of people didn’t expect us to be here, but we’re here.

“I knew we had an opportunity because we had been working hard, not just this season but for years, to get to this point. I’m not surprised we’re here but I’m surprised that it came to fruition. I knew we always had an opportunity."

Andrew Jackson did a tremendous job in shutting down EC’s leading scorer in senior guard Destinee Tiller. She managed just four points after coming into the contest averaging around 20. Tiller did have a team high three steals and shared the assists lead with three to go with three boards.

 Milaysha Chisholm led Eau Claire in scoring with 16 points and in blocks with two to go with eight rebounds and two steals.

 Demas had seven points, three assists and two steals, while Bethel had five points and a team high nine rebounds.

 Clemya Cyrus and Motley both had two points.

 Coach Fair said his team has received tremendous support from Kershaw and the surrounding community over this 2-year run. He feels like the Volunteers embody that closeness.

“We’re a lot closer. It’s a family-like atmosphere,” he said of this team. “Everybody gets along, everybody pulls for one another. We just bond together and play as a team.”

Watkins admitted she and her teammates felt the pressure of being defending state champions.

“I felt like there was a lot of weight on my shoulders,” he said. “Everybody looked at us, and I felt like everybody was gunning for us. We got through it because we worked as a team.

“We put our faith in God and our chemistry got better, from the first of the year to the end. We really wanted it. We went out there and worked hard every day in practice.”

“We made history,” Asbelle said. “It’s a big accomplishment that we made history. We’re going to go back home and celebrate and enjoy it.”