Blythewood and Walhalla Repeat as South Carolina Girls Basketball Champions After Dominant Finals

A pair of defending South Carolina High School League (SCHSL) girls basketball state champions – Blythewood and Walhalla – used defensive prowess in second half to roll to second straight titles.

Back-to-Back

After Berkeley repeated in Class 5A Division II, Blythewood retained the Division I title in the same classification. In Class 3A, Walhalla also found “paradise” once again in the championship game.

Blythewood Overcame a 1-3 Start

A 1-3 start quickly ended the “honeymoon” period from last year’s state championship win for Blythewood.

The challenge from a more difficult schedule served its purpose for Lady Bengals’ head coach Emily Schaeffer. Rather than shrink from the challenge, the team rebounded to win 23 of the last 25 games.

South Carolina girls basketball — Blythewood girls with the Class 5A Division I title | Thomas Grant Jr.

The championship game played out in a similar fashion to the season. After a slow start against Wando, Blythewood roared back with a dominant second half to win 68-44.

“We knew coming that coming in we wanted to go back-to-back,” Williams said. “We had this entire mentality ‘back-to-back, back-to-back, back-to-back’. So we knew coming into this game we had to prove that and we did.”

Two-time Class 5A Player of the Year Chase Thomas had 28 points. Fellow senior All-State teammate India Williams finished with 20 points in her final game for Blythewood (24-5).

Riding the momentum of the comeback win over Lexington, the Lady Warriors took an early lead. McKenna Reynolds carried the offense, scoring seven of her 19 points to put Wando up 17-9 at the end of the first quarter.

Blythewood responded in the second quarter. Thomas and Hightower bookended a 11-3 run that put the Lady Bengals up 20-19 at the 4:17 mark.

Reynold hit three straight layups for Wando in tying the game at 27-27. With 28 seconds left, Williams hit a 3-pointer to give the Lady Bengals up 30-27 at halftime advantage.

Blythewood Dominates the Second half

They would not trail again. Thomas and Williams combined for 13 straight points to push the lead into double digits.

With the Lady Bengals forcing 18 turnovers, creating 14 steals, and Reynolds, guard Malaya Mazyck and forward Ava Rush in foul trouble, the Lady Warriors found themselves down 48-36 going into the fourth quarter.

There would be no comeback for Wando. A layup by Williams and 3-pointer by Thomas ignited an 18-4 run to give Blythewood its biggest lead at 66-40 with 4:05 left.

With victory at hand, Schaeffer cleared the benches to give the reserve players the experience of playing in a state final.

“We never took our foot off the gas,” Thomas said. “We just kept going hard. No matter what happened, we just stayed together, played together and that’s how we had to be.”

Lady Razorbacks Create School History

Located in the Blue Ridge mountains and near the borders of Georgia and North Carolina, Walhalla is known as South Carolina’s “Last Exit.”

Following Friday’s 70-58 win over W.J. Keenan, it’s now home of the back-to-back Class 3A girls’ basketball state champions.

“You’ve got to embrace the process,” head coach Byron Winphries said. “You’ve got to embrace the hard work. You’ve got to embrace the conditioning. I think these girls have done a good job of doing that. Just working hard and all if you win the game or the lose the game. Emotionally you prepare yourself. I think that’s the biggest thing. They’ve taken that and run with it.”

The Last Two Class 3A Players of the Year Shine in Different Ways

The game was billed as a matchup highlighting the last two Class 3A Players of the Year. Lady Raider point guard Taelor Lee-Sutton was this year’s recipient and led her team with 20 points

South Carolina girls Walhalla — Walhalla point guard Kami Roach | Thomas Grant Jr.

Point guard counterpart Kami Roach had 12 points. She also dished out seven assists as the Lady Razorbacks found success pushing the basketball against Keenan’s defense and finding open players.

“I feel like she deserved it this year,” said Roach about Lee-Sutton. “She really is an outstanding player and she really showed that tonight in the game. But I feel like for me, the mindset of not matching up one-on-one, I feel like it’s just we go out there with five people. It’s not just us two on the court.

“It’s 5-on-5 and I feel like both teams are out for blood. I feel like we put it all out there and left it on the court today.”

Walhalla Controls Most of the Game Versus Feisty Lady Raiders

Shooting 51-percent in the first half compared to 34.4-percent for Keenan, the Lady Razorbacks built a 21-12 lead in the first quarter. A near halfcourt shot by Lee-Sutton at the buzzer helped cut the deficit to six points.

Walhalla opened up a double-digit lead in the second quarter. Forward Ashlyn Frick found success off Roach’s passes, but also attacking the basket with driving layups. She finished with a game-high 23 points and nine rebounds.

Frick, who also blocked three steals and grabbed nine rebounds, helped control the pain with Miley White. She had a game-high 12 rebounds.

Another productive player for Walhalla was guard Baylee Cannon. She shot 5-of-6 from the field in the first half enroute to finishing with 19 points.

As the Lady Razorbacks continued to run their offense unaffected by Keenan’s pressure defense, their lead increased as high as 23 points late in the third quarter. The Lady Raiders also struggled from the field, making just 14-47 shots.

Keenan continued to battle towards the final buzzer. They outscored Walhalla 20-8 to end the game. Kristin Brown joined Lee-Sutton in double figures with 14 points, Aareonna Caughman finished with 13 and backup center Tylee Robinson contributed nine rebounds.

The Lady Raiders got no closer than the final score. Walhalla (26-2) finished the season with a 21st consecutive victory with the only losses coming at the hands of Daniel.

SCHSL Girls Basketball State Championship Schedule

Military Magnet vs. Great Falls noon

North Augusta vs. Westside 4 p.m.