Dillon Girls Basketball Wins Third Consecutive Region Title, Focused On A State Title Goal In 2026- 27

By Billy G. Baker

Publisher

Dillon—The Dillon Wildcats (23-3)  girls’ basketball team won a region title for the third year in a row, going 10-0 against region foes, before bowing out of the SCHSL AAA playoffs in the third round, with a 43-35 lost at Keenan on February 24.

Dillon led 21-15 at the half against Keenan and the teams went into the final period tied at 30 before the Raiders out-scored the Wildcats 13-5 over the final four minutes of the game.

“We just fell apart over the last four minutes of the game against Keenan, and it is still bugging me right now,” said head coach James McMillian, days later after completing his 10^th season with the Dillon program. “In all honesty, Keenan had more over-all team depth, and they kept bringing in fresh players and their press was very effective against us.

“We had one of our top defensive players, (Azyriah Ford) miss the Keenan game with an injury she sustained in our win over Orangeburg-Wilkinson, the game before, and we were down to 9 players, and we had to back off our defensive pressure some to stay out of foul trouble,” said Coach McMillian. “I just wish if we could have played Keenan with a full squad it might have been a different game. They went on to lose by 20 points to Oceanside Collegiate in the Lower State finals, and several of our players felt like we would have given them a much closer game since we beat them to make it to the state finals last season.”

The key to Keenan’s win came at the free throw line. The Raiders made 18-of-28 free throws while the Wildcats made only six of 18 free throws at the charity stripe.

“Keenan made just one three point shot while we made three of them, and we were about dead even on field goals, so the free throws were definitely the difference in the game,” said Coach McMillian. “This is an area of our game we will certainly work hard on improvement for next season.”

Dillon had two very talented players to earn Coaches AAA all-state honors. Sophomore guard Treasure Davis, who averaged 23 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.6 steals and three assists a game, has been starting at Dillon since the 7^th grade. Junior guard Khw-Ny McKinnon finished the season averaging 18.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.3 steals and 4.6 assists per game and she is a three-year starter.

“We are very proud of both Treasure and McKinnon and they both improved this season,” said Coach McMillian. “They are both very unselfish players, and we worked this season trying to get more players involved on the offensive side of the ball to take some of the pressure off them. This will be one of our top goals going into next season.”

Coach McMillian is very high on the development potential of 6-0 freshman forward Nylann Jones. “Towards the end of the season she had a 9- point game along with 10 rebounds,” said Coach McMillian. “I keep telling her she has unlimited potential if she will keep working. She could give us a strong inside game to go along with our outstanding guard play.” Jones averaged two points and 3.9 rebounds a game over the season.

Ford, only a junior, will return next season after averaging 5.1 points and 2.4 steals a game. The team will graduate four seniors from this year’s team. They include 5-10 Alyssa Lee (1.3 pts and 3.7 rebounds) along with forward Jiana McGill at (3.7 points) a game. The team’s other two seniors were shooting guard Zynijah Pernell (4.7 points) and sophomore forward Kai Bethea.

Pilar Quick was a freshman guard on the team who will be returning next season.

Dillon began the playoffs with a 56-25 win over North Charleston in the first round. They then defeated Orangeburg-Wilkinson in round two 69-53. McKinnon had 23 and 27 points in the two games while Davis contributed 24 points in the OW win. In the Keenan loss Davis led the way with 17 points, 9 rebounds, five steals and four assists. McKinnon was held to just six points, but she contributed seven rebounds and seven steals during the game. McGill had 8 rebounds. Jones, showing promise for next season led the Wildcats on the boards against Keenan with 10 rebounds and she scored three points.

“I am already working on a more competitive schedule for next season,” said Coach McMillian. “We are hoping to participate in the Carolina Invitational in Charleston over the holidays next season. We are focused on competing for a state title next season.”  

With realignment, Dillon will compete as an AA program next season.