Florence – The Florence Christian School girls basketball team may have gone only 11-13 on the season, but one of those victories came in the SCISA AAA state tournament. That was a nice exclamation point for an 8-person team that had no seniors.
“I thought we had a really good season,” said veteran FCS head coach Neil Minton. “We improved drastically from the start to the finish. We played really hard and as a team. That's all a coach can ask of his team.”
The playoff victory was 27-23 over Shannon Forest, which played for the AAA state title last season. The Eagles hung in the quarterfinal game with John Paul II, the eventual state runner-up, before falling 41-30.
Minton thinks the victory over Shannon Forest can be used as a springboard into the 2024-25 season.
“I think it showed that we have potential to take another step next season,” he said. “We have no seniors and only two juniors, so learning how to win a game like that is a big deal for these girls.
“I feel great about the character of our girls. I think getting a good win in the playoffs and playing tough with the eventual state runner up in the quarterfinals really opened the eyes of the girls to their potential. I expect us to compete really hard this off season.”
Florence Christian had two players named to the All-Region 2-AAA team in freshman Emerson Poston and sophomore Anna Kate Huggins.
Poston, who was also selected to play in the SCISA North-South All-Star Game, led FCS in all four major categories. She averaged 11.4 points per game to go with 8.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 4.1 steals.
Huggins averaged 6.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.7 steals.
With such a short roster, each of the eight girls played in at least 18 of the 23 games.
Sophomore Demi Greene averaged 3.9 points, while sophomore Leah Lambert averaged 2.3 points and 4.8 rebounds. Junior Elise Hicks averaged 1.3 points, junior Karley Hickson 1.2, sophomore Susanna Lee 1.2 and freshman Lyla Broach 0.9 points and 2.9 rebounds.
Minton said the Eagles need to become a better offensive team after averaging only 27.1 points per contest.
“We really struggled to score. We are so small and with only eight girls, it was hard to practice at the level we needed to at times. Defensively, we played really, really, good at times. We need to continue getting stronger with the ball.”
TWO FCS BOYS SELECTED ALL REGION
Senior Dylan Greene and sophomore Taylor Greene were the two Eagles named to the All-Region boys basketball team.
Dylan averaged 18.5 points while Taylor averaged 15.1 for FCS, which went 4-17.
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