By Rob Gantt Special to the HSSR GOOSE CREEK – Goose Creek High School track and field coach Jason Winstead said hurdler Kourtney Horne was at her best in the Class 5A Div. II state track meet. Horne believed she was going to be challenged in the 100-meter hurdles May 15 at Spring Valley High School. Horne ran like it, too, making it look easy on the way to her first track and field state championship for the Gators. Horne cruised across the finish line in 14.2 seconds, 18 hundredths of a second ahead of the runner-up. “We saw her best,” Winstead said. Horne placed eighth in the event in 2024, more than a full second behind her winning time at state. “Her future is as bright as it possibly can be,” Winstead said. “Watching Kourtney run the last month or so has been fun. She’s such a competitor. She does a great job of getting ready to run. She just got off to a great start.” Horne became the third Gators hurdler in a row to win a state championship. Faith Jones finished first in 2024 and Robert Wheatley reached the top of the podium in 2023 for the Goose Creek boys. “We’ve had pretty good hurdlers around here for a while,” Winstead said. Horne also placed second by two hundredths of a second in the 400-meter hurdles. Wisdom Johnson added a runner-up finish for the Goose Creek boys in the 110-meter hurdles. More notable finishes for the Gators were turned in by long jumpers Julian Whitfield and Trevor Smalls . They placed second and third in the boys event. Kaprice Manigualt-Garrett finished second for the Gators' girls in the 400-meter dash.

Goose Creek's Julian Whitfield , who finished first in the long jump with a mark of 6.84 meters.

Goose Creek's junior all-state guard Ja’Quell Brown.

By Rob Gantt Special to The HSSR GOOSE CREEK – Goose Creek High School’s boys basketball team captured the Region 7-5A championship this winter and advanced to the Class 5A Div. II state championship game. The championship game was the last one for five Goose Creek seniors: Shane Potts , Carmelo Adeniyi , Brayden Langworthy , Caleb Langworthy and Jermaire Williams . Potts, an all-state selection, capped his career with 29 points on 11-of-16 shooting in the finale against Upper State champion Greenville. “They’re all great young men,” Gators coach Blake Hall said. “You don’t win at a high level without character people. They’re the epitome. I truly believe if you don’t have good people, you’re not going to win at a high level. They will be missed, but the relationship goes on. I look forward to watching them get out into the real world and do great things.” The Lower State champion Gators finished up 25-4 after falling to Greenville in double overtime inside the Florence Center March 8. The region title was Goose Creek’s second in the last three years and the Gators. The state appearance was their fourth since 2006. The Gators have some talented players coming back, including junior all-state guard Ja’Quell Brown . Brown scored 27 points and forced the first overtime with an off-balance 3-pointer from the wing at the horn to tie it 58-58. Junior guard Terrell Johnson trailed Potts and Brown for the Gators in the championship game, finishing with seven points. Brayden Langworthy chipped in six points. On the season, Brown and Potts led the Gators on the scoreboard, averaging 16.6 points and 15.8 points, respectively. Sophomore Reggie Dozier chipped in 6.5 points per game, followed by junior forward Tavieon Scott , Williams, Johnson and Adeniyi. That group added right around five points per game. Scott led around the glass with 5.5 rebounds per game. Brown led in assists and Potts was out front in steals. The Goose Creek girls basketball team finished 14-11 overall and 6-4 in the league to place third. Eighth-grader Madeline Dates paced the Lady Gators in scoring at 15 ppg, while freshman Celeste Griffin added 8.5 ppg. Sophomore Jaliaya Jacobs and eighth-grader Aubrey Downey chipped in over six points per game. The seniors were Gabby Curtis and Grace Sullivan .

Photos from March 8th, the SCHSL Class AAAAA Div. 2 Boys Championship Game between Greenville and Goose Creek . Enjoy this sample of images, follow this link for the full gallery

By Neill Kirkpatrick Special to the HSSR Florence – Since February 28 th, the Florence Center played host to the best SCHSL basketball teams in the state as it ended the best game was saved for last, not only did we get a great game between Goose Creek and Greenville but it took two extra periods for the Red Raiders to finally prevail 81-71 to capture their first AAAAA state championship. The state championship is Greenville’s sixth overall moving them into a tie for fourth on the all-time state championship list with Lower Richland , Gaffney , Irmo and fellow Greenville County school Southside . They won five at the AAA before moving up in classification. They finished the year 28-2. “This is special is very special to me but I am just happy for the guys. We ask a lot of them year-round sometimes it is not fun and it is hard. We have been chasing this moment for a long time,” said Greenville Head Coach Mike Anderson . “It was a heck of a game Goose Creek wouldn’t go away and we made a couple of mistakes. But in the end they were able to make the plays to win the game.” The Gators end the year at 25-4 with their fifth lower state championship in school history but for senior Shane Potts and junior Ja'Quell Brown it was bitter sweet as they were part of the team that came up short against Dorman 2022-23 season. “It is disappointing ending to the season but I am very proud of my guys. They are champions on how they behave in the community, on campus and on the court. I love this guys and the result of a game does not change that,” said Goose Creek head coach Blake Hall. The two biggest difference in the game both went Greenville’s way as they dominated Goose Creek on the boards, out rebounding the Gators 39-18 with half being on the offense. The second was the foul discrepancy and free throw shooting. The Gators were whistled for 29 fouls while the Red Raiders were whistled for 13 despite being the more physical all night. Greenville shot 36 free throws to Goose Creek’s 16 and the Red Raiders made 27 of those free throws which turned out to the difference in the game. Goose Creek made more threes and two-point basket but the free throw line was the difference in the game. If you were a Gator fan you thought the officials were wearing red and white striped shirts instead of black and white. Gator head coach Hall said, “You can’t beat a team when they shoot almost 40 free throws. I told our guys you have no control over the officiating but you have to play through it. For the most part I thought we did but it was too much to overcome.” The first quarter was a harbinger of how the game would play out. Goose Creek’s points came from the field as they hit three-pointers with Ja'Quell Brown nailing two of them. Meanwhile the Red Raiders went 8 for 10 from the line as Caden Coleman went 3 for 4 from the line and had a two-point basket to help the Red Raiders lead after one 14-13. The second quarter saw the Gators continuing to hit three pointers as they had for in the quarter with Shane Potts hitting two and Brown and Terrell Johnson Jr. hitting the other. They helped the Gators go on an 8-0 run to start the quarter to go up 24-16. For Greenville, they countered by going inside to Franklin Whitley and Roman Cooley scoring 13 of the Red Raiders 16 points in the quarter and lead them on a 9-0 run to wipe the Gator lead. The teams went to the half with Greenville still on top by one at 30-29. The third quarter was the only one where the Red Raiders did not go to the free throw. Instead, they attacked on the inside for all of their points in the quarter. Potts dominated the third quarter for the Gators scoring 11 of his game high 29 points and Johnson Jr. added another three as the Gators took a 45-42 lead into the fourth quarter. Leading by three the Gators took their biggest lead of the game after Potts scored in the paint at 47-42. From there you saw Greenville march to the free throw line for most of the quarter as they scored 9 of their 16 points from the charity stripe. The biggest shot of quarter came from Greenville senior Israel Deaver. Setting up in the left corner he hit the first three of the night for the Red Raiders to tie the game. Also, Coleman had a big quarter scoring seven points helping them to a three-point lead 58-55 with 10 seconds remaining in the contest. Needing a three to tie the game and force overtime coach Hall called time out to set up a final play for the Gators. They were inbounded the ball under Greenville’s basket and after getting the ball past half court they ran a play for Brown, who dribbled to the left and then launched a three the hit nothing but the bottom of the net to tie the game at 58-58. Greenville was unable to get a shot up and we were headed to overtime. The Gators found themselves down by three at 65-62 but Potts scored down low and then hit a free throw to send the game into a second over time. The second overtime was all Red Raiders as Deaver hit his second three, this time from the right side to start a 7-0 Red Raider run that the Gators had no answer for the run. The Red Raiders would hit 9-10 free throws to close out the game and bring the championship trophy back to Greenville. Greenville was led by Whitley with 24 points while Coleman dropped in 23 and Coleman and Tucker Scholl scored 12 and 11 points, respectively. Brown finished with 27 points to join Potts as the only Gators in double figures.

Andrew Jackson To face Eau Claire In SCHSL AA Girl’s basketball Finals While High Point Academy Meets Atlantic Collegiate In AA Boy’s Action, In Div. II AAAAA the Berkeley Girl’s Confront Greenwood In The State Finals While The Goose Creek Boys Play Greenville In Div. II AAAAA By Billy G. Baker Publisher Florence —In Div. II AAAAA basketball action on Wednesday at the Florence Center the Berkeley girl’s defeated North Myrtle Beach, 67-32 to win the lower state title while in upper state action Greenwood came back from an early deficit to defeat Greenville in over-time 49-45. In the AAAAA Div. II boy’s lower state game at the same venue Goose Creek defeated Berkeley County rival Berkeley 58-45 to advance to the state finals. Later that day in upper state action Greenville rallied to defeat Fort Mill 46-44 in a game that went down to the wire. The Berkeley girls will now face Greenwood in the Florence Center at 4 p.m. on Saturday March, 8 while the Goose Creek boys will challenge the Greenville boys at 6.m the same day. Goose Creek defeated Greenville at home in a game played back in the early season. In semi-finals SCHSL AA action on Tuesday the Andrew Jackson girls advanced to the finals in SCHSL AA competition with a 96-33 win over Lake City and the Lady Volunteers will face-off against Eau Claire after their come-from-behind win over region foe Clinton , 41-30 to earn upper state AA girl’s honors. These two teams will compete for the AA girl’s state title at noon on March 8 in the Florence Center. In AA boy’s action on Tuesday, Atlantic Collegiate (from Conway) defeated the Andrew Jackson boy’s 45-40 in a highly competitive game to take lower state honors. In the upper state AA boy’s action High Point Academy defeated Cinderella Liberty High 62-41. Liberty came into the game with a record of 13-15 and the Red Devils had caught fire in the play-offs starting with a road win over number one seeded Fairfield Central to start the play-offs. On a side note, High Point is coached by Lee Sartor who won three state championships at Spartanburg Day where he coached former number one NBA pick Zion Williamson . Atlantic Collegiate will compete against High Point Academy in the AA boy’s finals at 2 p.m. on Saturday March, 8 at the same venue. Here are some random quotes from some of the winning coaches on Tuesday and Wednesday: Atlantic Collegiate boy’s coach Tanner Massey : “We get after it with game day practices and we practice hard to get ready to play in games,” he said. “We have six seniors and three of them start so we are a veteran team. Our senior starters are Jaylen Bellamy, Clayton Hemingway and Jamie Brooks and Brooks should be the AA Player of the Year.” High Point Academy’s Lee Sartor : “It is always an honor to get to this point in the season and I am so proud of my team, and so proud of our school,” said Coach Sartor. “We didn’t come here just to play in the upper state championship and win it. We came here to win a state championship. So, we have one more game and we are playing a very talented Atlantic Collegiate team and I know they will be ready and we will be ready.”  Eau Claire, head coached by Ashley Patterson - Gilmore , will be making their first state title appearance since 1998. “We are excited and I am over-whelmed right now,” she said after the big win. “The girls said when the season began, they wanted to go to Florence and compete for a state title. Their work ethic was there all season and now we have come here and we are going to the state finals and our school has not done this since 1998. We are focused on this next game and we are looking forward to the challenge of playing a very talented Andrew Jackson team.” Goose Creek head coach Blake Hall : “I asked the team just what do you want,” said Coach Hall. “Is winning the lower state what you want; is that enough? If you want more we have to play hard in one more game. Really, I think this game (win over Berkeley) was about stamina. Our guys have worked really hard and if your players have to have the will not to give in when you get tired on the court.” Greenville High head coach Mike Anderson: “I am just so proud of our guys and we have been knocking on the door for the past five years being in the game three different times. It was an absolute battle night. Fort Mill is really good and well coached and they controlled most of the game. We have a little bit of nerves early and we tried to clam everyone down. We told them to stay the course and that the game was for four quarters. The game came down to one play and they had a good shot but missed. We are just thankful to be playing one more game.” An emotional Berkely High head coach Crystle Peace after Berkeley’s win: “It’s been a 15- year journey and I am just thinking about my Mom right now (passed away in March, 2024),” said Coach Peace. “I am just thinking about my Mom. ”So many times I wanted to give up and she was there for me. I just feel her presence right now. I am so proud of our group, our coaching staff, and never giving up. Even when I played, we never got to this point so I am just thankful to God and God is so awesome.”

Berkeley junior Donovan Green about make a fade away jump shot.

Berkeley junior, Aiyanna Moses finished with a team-high 15 points for the Stags. (Photo courtesy Rob Gantt)