Carter’s 29 Points Leads Berkeley to Back-To-Back Div. II AAAAA Girls Basketball Titles With 54-50 Win Over Greenville

By Rob Gantt

Special To The HSSR

COLUMBIA - A sophomore guard from the Lowcountry had a simply scintillating night inside Colonial Life Arena during the Class 5A Div. II state championship basketball game Thursday, March 5, between defending champion Berkeley High School and Greenville High School.

       Berkeley's Alaina Carter hit 11 of 15 shots from the field and knocked down five 3-pointers in powering the Lower State champion Stags to a 54-50 victory.

       The Stags finished the 23-5 season and became the first Berkeley team, in any sport, to successfully defend its state title the following season. As a school, Berkeley has nine team titles (5 in baseball, 2 in football and 2 in girls’ basketball).

        "This is very special,” said Berkeley head coach Crystal Peace. "We had goals from the very beginning of the year. Resilient has been our word all season. We got some bumps and bruises along the way. My job as the leader is to keep them believing in what we do.”

Peace's team also got eight points from forward Amani McCray and seven more from forward Imani Levey.

       Greenville ended the season with a very solid 22-7 mark and earned an Upper State title a week earlier.

The Red Raiders received 19 points and 12 rebounds from guard Ava Owens and 14 more points from forward Makyala Assemians. Assemians also chipped in five boards and two blocks.

        Carter's final 3-pointer with better than four minutes left in the contest gave Berkeley a 43-32 lead, but the Red Raiders continued to fight on.

Greenville twice cut its deficit to three points with under a minute left, but Berkeley answered with points from the charity stripe to hold on.

      Both squads played tight defense all night, too. Together, they totaled 40 turnovers - combining for 48 points off those turnovers - and Berkeley shot 41.9 percent from the field (18 of 43), while Greenville shot 46.3 percent (19 of 41).

      While it wasn't always pretty, Peace's team was able to get the repeat with a gritty, determined effort. "We knew what we wanted from day one," she said. "We just got a humble group of girls. We don't go out there boasting and bragging about anything. It's always one game at a time."

       Each team went on nice runs in the first half. After Berkeley took a 5-2 lead in the opening minutes, Greenville scored 10 of the next 11 points of the first quarter to lead, 12-6, going into the second quarter.

McCray got a 3-pointer to fall less than a minute into the next period and it sparked a 15-3 surge by the Stags. McCray's jumper from just below the free-throw line put the Stags back on top, 16-15, with 4:11 remaining in the first half. Carter followed with a steal and layup, then swished a 3-pointer from the wing with 2:03 left to give Berkeley a 21-15 advantage.

Owens scored a pair of buckets to bring the Red Raiders within two points at the break, but Greenville would never hold the lead again.

       The Red Raiders did cut their deficit to one, 23-22, on a 3-pointer by guard Emily Jaminet in the third quarter, but Berkeley always maintained a lead.

        Carter's 3-pointer at the third-quarter horn put the Stags up, 34-27, going into the last eight minutes.

Other point producers for Berkeley included Kennedy Caldwell (5), Demi Gray (3) and Madison Thomas had two points and three rebounds.

Additional scorers for Greenville included Drawhorn Wilson (5), while Miracle Cheeks and Jazaria Jones each had four points. Emily Jaminet finished with three points and A’Keyra Harris rounded out the scoring with one point.

One of the key teams in the game was Berkeley making six of their 15 three-point attempts while Greenville was only two of 12 from the three-point arc.