Saluda siblings CJ Springs, Ceddrianna Springs Region 2-AA Players of the Year
Brother, sister and JaBria Brunson selected to SCBCA AA All-State teams
Saluda – The Springs family of Saluda has all of the major basketball hardware locked down in Region 2-AA.
Senior CJ Springs and his younger sister, sophomore Ceddrianna Springs, were selected as the Region 2 Boys Player of the Year and Girls Player of the Year, respectively, On top of that, the Saluda High School siblings have been selected to the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association AA All-State teams.
CJ Springs certainly set the pace for the boys team. Springs averaged 25 points a game while grabbing six rebounds and coming up with two steals. This was the second consecutive season he was selected to the AA boys All-State team.
It’s the first go-around for his younger sister. Ceddrianna had a teammate join her on the All-State team in junior JaBria Brunson.
Ceddrianna and Brunson helped lead the Tigers to a 17-4 overall record and an 8-0 mark to win the Region 2 title.
The Saluda girls lasted two rounds in the state playoffs. The Tigers rolled over Central 53-11 in the first round before having to play host to Landrum in the second round. The season came to a disappointing end as they fell to the Cardinals 54-42.
Ironically though, that would be Landrum’s second of five stops on the way to winning the state championship.
“We had an excellent season (despite) falling short in the playoffs to Landrum in the second round of the playoffs,” said veteran head coach Jeannette Wilder, who led the Tigers to a state championship in the 2020-21 campaign with a perfect 15-0 record.
With two All-State performers returning in Ceddrianna Springs and Brunson and only losing one senior from the roster in Jakiyiha Myers, Wilder thinks good things might await her team next year.
. “I look forward to next season with more experience and the expectation to compete deeper in the playoffs,” said Wilder, whose roster this year also included three juniors, three sophomores and four freshmen.
Wilder was selected as the Region 2 Coach of the Year for the girls. Wilder’s Saluda counterpart, Jimmy Kinard, was chosen as the Region 2 Boys Coach of the Year.
The Saluda boys finished the year with a 16-8 overall record. The Tigers had a second-place finish in Region 2 with a 7-3 record, one game behind American Leadership Academy’s 8-2 mark. American Leadership would go on to advance to the Upper State championship game.
The Tigers won their playoff opener with a 56-44 home victory over Mid-Carolina. However, they saw their season come to an end for the second straight season on the road against Clinton. The Tigers fell to the Red Devils 54-49 in the first round last year. This season it was by a 56-49 count in Round 2.
CJ Springs was joined on the boys All-Region team by younger brother and sophomore Ceddion Springs and junior Jahmeer Myers.
The Saluda boys also possess a young roster, so Kinard is hoping good things await next season as well.
“CJ Springs and Jamiyias Myers were the only two seniors on the team, so the future looks bright for Tiger basketball moving forward,” Kinard said. “Jahmeer Myers will be expected to step into a senior leadership role for the Tigers next season.”
