Keenan Girls Defeat Oceanside Collegiate to Win 3A Lower State
By WORTHY EVANS
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
FLORENCE — The Keenan girls basketball team got off to a hot defensive start and didn’t let up on Oceanside Collegiate throughout their 3A upper state championship game Saturday afternoon at the Florence Center.
Led by sophomore and 3A Player of the Year Taelor Lee-Sutton senior Aareonna Caughman, the Raiders jumped to a 16-8 lead by the end of the first quarter and carried on to a 62-43 victory over the Landsharks.
Keenan (20-6) plays upper-state champion Walhalla for the 3A state championship at the Colonial Life Arena Friday at 2 p.m. The Razorbacks (25-2) beat St. Joseph’s Catholic 60-53 in the upper-state championship Saturday night.
Friday’s matchup is the seventh appearance for the Raiders in the state final. Keenan’s last title came in 2022, the Raiders’ last state crown in the MiLaysia Fulwiley era in which Keenan won four state titles in five years.
Head coach Reggie McClain said last year’s defeat was principal in motivating the team.
“They had beaten us. We came up with a good defensive plan and they executed and jumped on them early.”
McClain also said the outcome rested on his seniors desire for getting to the final game of the year.
“This group hadn’t been there,” McClain said. “My seniors were freshman when we lost in the fourth round (to Gray Collegiate in 2023). We talked about that for the last two or three years. We ended up losing in the third round last year so this was our last chance for our seniors to go to state.”
Saturday’s game was also a revenge game for the Raiders. Last year Oceanside (21-4) eliminated Keenan 55-41 in the third round. The difference this year was defense, Lee-Sutton said.
“Last year we didn’t play good man (defense) but this year we did play good man,” she said. “they couldn’t handle the ball very well and we put pressure on them, got us some steals and scored baskets.”
Lee-Sutton scored 18 points, with many opportunities coming in transition.
Oceanside focused heavily on defending Lee-Sutton in the first half, and she had just one basket in the first quarter and four points in the second quarter.
Keenan’s attack wasn’t stymied, as Caughman scored 11 of her 17 points in the first half. Caughman also had 12 rebounds.
“I knew I was going to step up and perform very well,” Caughman said. “like she (Lee-Sutton) said, we lost in the third round last year so we really wanted this game.”
The Raiders desire to earn their 10th state championship appearance in school history was rewarded in the second half.
With Keenan up 30-19 going into the third quarter, Lee-Sutton opened the scoring with three straight baskets, the last one a 3-pointer coming off a Caughman steal and assist, to go up 37-19. Back-to-back buckets from Zaria Mines and Caughman—both coming off Lee-Sutton steals—put the Raiders up 51-31 by third quarter’s end.
Keenan led by as much as 25 points after Khloe Williams made a putback for a 62-37 lead with 1:51 left.
Oceanside got seven straight points in the final stretch with a free throw and a basket from Henly Hanks, and baskets from Ella Hunter and Sadie Rice.
Hanks led the Landsharks with 13 points.
A big motivation for the team reaching the final was that the state championships series is back at the Colonial Life Arena after a long absence.
“That’s been the motivation,” he said. “I told them it’s right in our backyard and I told them we got to get there. So they’ve been fighting and trying to get there since.”
