The Lee Central Girls Defeat North 57-36 To Advance To Class A Girl’s State Basketball Finals

By Billy G. Baker

Publisher

Florence—No doubt, when a head coach is leading the girls’ basketball program at her alma mater, where she was once the star player, she naturally hopes that her current players enjoy the same success she once did, so Lee Central’s Patrice Holmes was very proud of the Stallion’s 57-36 win over North High on Thursday at the Florence Civic Center, advancing to the Class A state finals.

Lee Central (22-4) will now engage with a talented team from Military Magnet, who advanced with a win over Denmark-Olar, at 2 p.m. on March, 6 at the Florence Civic Center.

“We missed some easy lay-ups at the start of the game but once we settled down, we played much better,” said Coach Holmes. “We last won a state title in 2007 and we won five state titles in the first seven years of Lee Central High School, (began in 2002) under my former coach Dorothy Fortune. It  is great to be back in the finals after such a long time.



“This current team has been four years in the making,” said Coach Holmes. “I have four captains and they are all key players for us. Senior Kiyonna Austin (5-10) did not play last year and she is our top rebounder. Junior MyKeriyah Holmes (niece) is our forward/center and this is her first full-season of play due to injuries and she has been in the program since the 8th grade.

“Our two guard captains are senior Hannah Reames and Serenity Williams and both of them got us started early today on offense,” said Coach Holmes.

Coach Holmes said she watched Military Magnet play earlier in the day at the same arena. “I do not want to reveal my game plan but I do have some things we are going to focus on when we play them,” she said. “They have so much talent.”

The game with North High was never in doubt as the Stallions built a 15-4 first quarter advantage and held a 33-11 lead at the break.

Lee central was le din scoring by Reames with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Holmes contributed 11 points and 9 rebound along with five blocked shots. Senior forward Johnnae Alston provided 12 points and a team leading 13 rebounds while Williams had 11 points.  

North High is head coached by I’Rek Hartwell. They were led in scoring by junior guard Kailen Parks with 9 points 9 points and sophomore CoCo Charley with six points, both three pointers made early in the game.

Parks came into the game averaging 23 points, 5.7 rebounds, 6.45 steals and 2.8 assists a game but a strong Lee Central defense shut her down for most of the game.

Lee Central is getting balanced scoring from numerous players. Williams is averaging 11.3 points and 4.2 steals a game. Reames is at 9.1 points and 4.9 rebounds a game while senior Ke’Myra Dennis is averaging 8.6 points a game.

Junior MyKeriyah Holmes is averaging 7.2 points and 5.6 rebounds while Austin is at 6.8 points and 6.7 rebounds a game.