Military Magnet Earns Their 4th State Girl’s Basketball Championship In Five Seasons With A 59-40 Win Over Lee central In Class A Girl’s basketball
Military Magnet Earns Their 4th State Girl’s Basketball Championship In Five Seasons With A 59-40 Win Over Lee central In Class A Girl’s basketball
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Florence—The Military Magnet girls won their fourth state basketball championship in five seasons with a dominating 59-40 win over Lee Central at the Florence Center on March, 6.
Military Magnet head coach Nathaniel Taylor shared his thoughts after the game, “We picked up off the 2022-23 team today and I am very proud of my players,” said Coach Taylor. “I work with my players and once they tell me what they hope to achieve in basketball I feel like it is my duty to help them get there.
“We have had success because our girls play with a lot of heart, desire and passion for the game,” said Coach Taylor. “North Charleson is a very gritty, tough place, so we are blue collar so our passion and desire is to be the very best we can be.”
Coach Taylor said senior starters Dream Watson, Jada Davis, and Sabri Mitchell would be missed and they have been involved in the program for many years.
“I would not say that we are rebuilding or reloading next season,” said Coach Taylor. “I would just say that we are maintaining.”
Lee Central head coach Patrice Holmes is coaching at her alma mater where she helped the Stallions win a state title, while playing for two others in high school. “We must have had 30 turnovers and you are not going to beat many teams with that happening,” she said after the game.
“Military had a very good press and it was hard to break at times,” said Coach Holmes. “It was great to see our fans come out and support us today and it would have been nice to have found a way to win the game. I love our fans.
Lee Central is losing seven seniors. “This team has been four years in the making I am so proud of all of them and the hard work they put in,” said Coach Holmes. “Kiyonna Austin, Ke’Myra Dennis, and Hannah Reames are our senior starters and Janiya Slater and Kiana Hopkins are the first two off the bench. We will miss all of them.”
Military Magnet led 19-14 after the first period and both teams stepped up their defense in the second quarter, won by MM 7-2. Giving the victors a 26-16 advantage at the break.
The third quarter began with MM’s Da’Nariyah Williams scoring off of a steal and then moments later she converted a free throw to put her team up 29-18 with 7:07 left in the third period. Williams led all players in the game with 18 points and seven rebounds.
Lee Central’s first baskets of the third period came on back-to-back lay-ups by My’Keriyah Holmes and Serenity Williams that cut the deficit to 29-20 with 5:50 left in the third period.
With 4:16 left in the third, Hannah Reames and Ke’Myra Dennis scored on close in shots to cut the deficit to 32-25, the closest the lady Stallions would come in the second half.
MM went on an 11-2 run for the rest of the period to take a 43-27 lead into the final period. The run was led by Dream Watson who made a pair of free throws, and Williams who scored six points, her final score came with .02 left in the quarter as she was falling down.
The final period was won by Military Magnet 16-13 and the six turnovers their defense forced on Lee Central in this quarter alone helped preserve their win. MM made the score 45-29 off of Williams’ two free throws to start the quarter. Mariah Brown scored all of her four points for the game in the final period and her put back shot with 3:38 to go gave MM a 49-36 lead. With 1:03 left MM scored their final points of the game on two free throws by senior Sabri Mitchell, a fitting way for her to close out a six-year career.
In the final period Lee central continued to play hard with Serenity Williams fouling out at the 7:20 mark. The final two baskets scored by the Stallions came at the 2:29 mark by Holmes on a lay-up and Jiana Hopkins scored her team’s final points on a lay-up with 2:17 left in the game.
For the game the top scorers for MM, other than Williams, were Dream Watson with 16 points, six steals, and three assists. Watson made 10-of-11 free throws. Mitchell scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds. Lauren Willis Mariah Brown, and Jada Davis each contributed four points.
For the game. MM converted 25 of 32 free throws and they forced strong defense forced over 20 turnovers,
Lee Central was led in scoring by Kiyonna Austin with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Holmes had seven points, 9 rebounds, and five blocked shots. Reames, Janiya Slater, and Kiana Hopkins each had five points. Ke’Myra Dennis had four points and three steals and Serenity Williams contributed two points and four rebounds.
Lee Central converted on 13- of -22 free throws.
