Dillon’s Defense Rallies Team To 59-57 Win Over Oceanside Collegiate In AAA Girl’s Lower State Championship Game
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Florence—In high stakes athletic events, games have defining moments, and when Oceanside Collegiate’s Ella Mae Schepp fouled out mid-way through the fourth quarter, in the Landsharks AAA Lower state championship game against Dillon, at the Florence Civic Center, her team lost the services of their best press breaking guard and the Wildcats rallied for a 59-57 win.
Dillon (23-2) will now challenge Walhalla (26-3) in the AAA state finals scheduled at the Florence Civic Center for 6 p.m. on Thursday March, 6 and 6 p.m. Walhalla defeated St. Joseph’s 47-41 to advance.
After the come-from-behind win, long-time Dillon head coach James McMillian told the HSSR, “This has been a long time coming,” said Coach McMillian. “This is my 22nd year in coaching so we are looking forward to playing one more game.
“I tell my players not to get too high or too low, and to learn how to play through adversity,” said Coach McMillian. “I am so happy right now, I do not know what to do.
“Everybody on the floor stepped up today and I am so proud of our senior leader Mariah Campbell because she has given her heart and soul to Dillon High basketball,” said Coach McMillian. “Treasure Davis has already scored 1,000 points and she is just a freshman and McKinnon, who is just a sophomore, scored 24 points today. It was just a great team effort and a great team win.”
Oceanside Collegiate head coach Mandy Harrison shared some thoughts after the game. “She (Schepp) is a player we do not want to leave the court so it was unfortunate she fouled out,” said Coach Harrison. “We knew their press was coming and we had prepared for it all week.
“My message to the team after the game, and they were down and sad, but I told them not to hang their heads because they had a lot to be proud of,” said Coach Harrison. “I reminded them that they had played a heck of a ball game and that they had made some big shots throughout the game.”
The Dillon girls are patently famous for their second half full-court, in-your-face, pressing defense, taking advantage of their quickness and tenacity to convert steals into lay-ups. The Wildcats were down 37-27 at the half when they released their wrath of defensive pressure on Oceanside to start the third quarter. By the start of the fourth quarter Dillon had cut the deficit in half to 47-42 when Schepp got her 4th foul with 6.3 seconds left in the third period.
Dillon had built a 14-11 first quarter lead, but in the second period Oceanside erupted for 26 points as senior Teagan Scott scored 10 points, junior Ella Hunter scored 8 points, while Schepp added four points in the second quarter, to give OC a 10-point lead at the half.
During the third period, Dillon began the quarter with a basket from the corner by sophomore point guard Khwnylahi McKinnon who would go on to finish with a team high 24 points. At the 6”15-mark McKinnon nailed a three-point shot from the corner and with 3:50 left in the period she hit another three-point shot that cut the deficit to 43-36. Seconds later a steal and lay-up by talented freshman Treasure Davis narrowed the score to 43-38 and OC called time out to regroup.
As the third quarter ended Dillon senior forward Zadaiya Moody scored on an inside basket to make the deficit 47-42 going into the final period. Dillon out-scored OC 17-10 in the final and Schepp fouled out with just under four minutes left in the game. Dillon took a 56-55 lead with 1:25 left in the game on a steal and lay-up from McKinnon. OC came right back and regained the lead (57-56) with 47 seconds left on a basket by junior forward Chole Millard.
Then with 26 seconds left senior guard Maraih Campbell hit the game winner on a three-point shot that gave the Wildcats a 59-57 win. OC called time out with 1.7 seconds on the clock but was unable to convert as time expired after a challenged inbounds pass.
For the game McKinnon led Dillon’s scoring index with 24 points followed by Davis with 17 points. Campbell contributed seven points with Ayonna Lester getting five points rounded off by two points each from Azyiah Ford and Moody.
Oceanside was led by Scott, a senior power forward, along with Schepp with 14 points. Ella Hunter had 9 points, while Millard added 8 points along with junior Henley Hanks who scored six points.
