Camden girls basketball team has snother successful year

Camden – The Camden High School girls basketball team saw its run as a 2-time defending

state champion come to an end this season. All in all though, it was still a pretty good season for the

Bulldogs.

They finished with a 17-7 overall record and reached the second round of the AAAA state

playoffs after winning the AAA crown the previous two seasons. Camden was led by senior Morgan

Champion and sophomore Braylin Mungo. Both were selected to the South Carolina Basketball

Coaches Association AAAA All-Sate team as well as being picked for the All-Region 3-AAAA team.

Champion averaged 14.1 points per contest to go with 3.3 rebounds, 3.4 steals and 2.7 assists

Mungo led the Bulldogs in scoring, assists and steals with averages of 15.1, 4.8 and 5.0, respectively. She

also grabbed 2.1 rebounds.

There were changes galore for Camden heading into the season. Not only did the nation’s No 1

player, Joyce Edwards, graduate, but head coach Natalie Norris decided to step down. Also, Camden

moved to AAAA after reclassification.

The Bulldogs finished in a tie for second with A.C. Flora in Region 3 with a 9-3 record. South

Pointe won the region with a 12-0 and was undefeated before losing to Westside in the Upper State

championship game, its 30th contest of the season.

Lewis Mungo, the father of Braylin, was pretty happy with his first year at the helm as head

coach.

“I feel this season was very successful,” he said. “We had a team with one senior, six sophomores

and a freshman. Every team we lost to with the exception of one was a state champion, a state runner-up

or in the Final Four.

"I’m very excited to see what the future holds for us.”

The Bulldogs’ other starters, Jillian Rush, Harmony Jefferson and Sharnayah Wright – all

sophomores -- were also All-Region.

Jefferson averaged 12.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 3.9 steals. Rush averaged 10.9

points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 2.8 steals. Wright led in rebounding with an 11.4 average and

blocked shots at 1.6. She also averaged 9.4 points, 2.6 assists and 3.0 steals.

JAHMARIE MCLEOD BOYS BASKETBALL ALL-REGION PICK

Senior Jahmarie McLeod was the lone Camden player selected to the All-Region 3 boys

basketball team.

McLeod led the Bulldogs in the four major categories He averaged 19.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.9

assists and 2.3 steals.

Camden finished 8-19 overall and 2-10 in region play. However, that was good enough to earn a

berth in the state playoffs. The Bulldogs lost to Wren 92-66 in the first round.

“This year was a learning/rebuilding year,” said head coach Sterling Council. “We were very

young and very inexperienced. We only had one returning player, who was our leading scorer.

“It was challenging playing in the AAAA classification with so many great teams in the region.

We leaned a lot and grew as players and coaches this year.”

Sophomore Will Haurnet averaged 6.6 points and 5.4 rebounds, while junior Derrick Loney led

in blocked shots at 1.2 to go with a 3.3 scoring average and 4.3 rebounds. Junior Jay Cook averaged 5.8

points and 2.1 rebounds.