Manning – The Dillon High School girls basketball team is within one victory of reaching one of its main goals coming into this season.
The Lady Wildcats will be playing host to Waccamaw on Monday with the Region 7-AAA title on the line. Both teams are 7-1 in region play with Waccamaw beating DHS 50-48 on January 19. However, 3-time defending region champion Loris handed Loris its lone region loss.
“We felt Loris was the measuring stick, and we were able to get two wins against them,” said Dillon head coach James McMillan, whose team is 16-5 overall. "We lost a a tough game at Waccamaw because we missed some plays in the game.
“We put a little pressure on ourselves because coming in it’s Senior Night. The girls are locked in and they're ready to play. If we get this game we win the region championship, which was our goal, our expectation, at the start of the season.”
Waccamaw is 11-9 overall with its region loss coming to Loris by a 48-37 score. The Warriors did beat Loris 35-32 in the return meeting, meaning Loris can finish no better than third.
The Lady Wildcats put themselves in this position with a 66-32 victory over Manning on Friday at Manning Junior High School’s Gibson Gymnasium. They led 30-15 at halftime before outscoring MHS 33-8 in the third quarter.
Junior Mariah Campbell helped set the table in the first half with 14 points. Freshman Treasure Davis, who entered the game with a 17.3 per game scoring average, exploded in the third quarter with 21 points.
Davis ended up with 28 points, while Campbell had 21. Freshman Khnwylahi McKinnon was the next top scorer with seven points. A newcomer to the lineup, McMillan believes it is McKinnon’s arrival that has made the difference in DHS being a 5-5 region team from a year ago to one that is a triumph away from a region crown.
“Adding McKinnon, a third guard who can handle the ball and make good decisions, freed up Tre(asure) and Mariah Campbell to do some things off the ball,” he said. “Teams can't press us, teams can't trap us because we have the extra ball handler on the floor.”
All three guards are averaging in double figures in points. McKinnon is averaging 11.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.2 steals to go with a team high 3.0 assists. Campbell is averaging 11.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.3 steals.
Along with leading the team in scoring, Davis leads in rebounding at 8.0 and steals at 4.9 to go with 2.2 assists. McMillan said Davis has worked hard to improve her game and having McKinnon on the floor has allowed Davis to broaden her game.
“I think the work she put in prior to this season, I think working hard, but doing it at her own consistent pace, has made her an even better ball player,” he said. “This year, because we've got an extra player on the floor, she's doing some other stuff for us like rebounding the basketball, getting steals. I think her game has developed across the board.”
Junior Ayanna Lester is another returning starter like Davis and Campbell. She is averaging 4.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.5 steals and 1.2 assists.
There is not a senior on the roster, but there are six other girls who are normally counted on to see varying degrees of action in the rotation. They are sophomore Jiana McGill (1.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg), junior Zadaiya Moody (1.3 ppg, 2.4 rpg), sophomore Zinijah Pernell (1.1 ppg), freshman A’zyriah Ford (2.0), sophomore Leah Bethea (1.9 rpg) and sophomore Alyssa Lee (1.9 rpg).
In the win over Manning, Pernell had five points, McGill three, Lester two and Kiasia McLeod one,.
Aysia Moore had 11 to lead Manning, which fell to 2-20 overall and 2-6 in region play. Tahirah Wellington had seven and Tamia Watson six.
While McMillan saw tremendous potential in his Dillon team, he admits he didn't necessarily expect the success to come at such a fast pace..
“Coming in on paper and the work we did this summer. I thought we were capable of doing this. but I didn't think we were going to be able to get there this quick because of all the young players we have on the team,” he said. “I didn't think we'd get there this fast. I'm kind of surprised but I thought we had it in us too.”
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