Sumter – Jazzy Frierson probably gave the most apt description of her Hartsville High School girls basketball team’s matchup with Goose Creek in the championship game of the District 9 Officials Christmas Basketball Tournament on Saturday at Morris College’s Garrick-Boykin Human Development Center.
“It was a game of runs,” the Red Foxes point guard said.
And it was HHS that put together the final run that finally secured the win, coming in the second overtime. Hartsville scored the first four points of the second overtime and made it stand up in a 73-69 victory.
“It was a good game for them, to be in that type of environment,” said Hartsville head coach Justin Johnson, whose team improved to 10-5 on the season with its four tournament victories. “That was similar to a playoff atmosphere.”
The Red Foxes scored the game’s first eight points only to see the Gators pull within three on a couple of occasions. However, HHS took its biggest lead of the game at 22-12 on a layup by Zenaria Gibson with 3:58 remaining in the first half.
By the time the teams went to the locker room for halftime though, GCHS had a 25-24 lead. It opened the second half by scoring 13 points in less than five minutes off the clock in the second half. A layup followed by a 3-point basket from Ayianna Moses made it 38-28 with 11:19 left in the game.
That comfortable margin didn’t last long at all. Hartsville scored eight points in just over two minutes to make it 38-36 with 9:10 to go.
“We made a lineup change, went to our guards and started pressing,” Johnson said. “They turned it over, and we got right back in it.”
Goose Creek head coach Jabari Deas hopes his senior-less team can use the loss as a learning experience.
“With this young group that’s what we’re trying to learn, how to finish games, how to close out games and how to protect leads,” said Deas, who is in his second season as head coach. “We gave them opportunities to get back in it and they took advantage of it.”
It was back-and-forth for the remainder of regulation. A layup by Gabby Curtis gave the Gators a 54-50 lead with 2:39 remaining. A free throw by Tatiana Fisher and a layup by Frierson made it 54-53 with 1:10 left. The teams traded possessions before Frierson was fouled with 1.7 seconds to go. She hit the first free throw, but missed the second, leaving the game tied at 54-54 and going into overtime.
The teams traded scores in the first overtime, the final one coming on a basket by Moses with 19 seconds left to make it 61-61. Frierson missed a shot at the buzzer to force a second overtime.
Frierson scored off the tip to start the second 4-minute extra period and Fisher hit two free throws with 3:14 left to make it 65-61. The Gators never recovered from that, and Frierson wen 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final 20 seconds to secure the victory.
Frierson finished with 34 points and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. She believes the Red Foxes’ run to the tournament title will pay dividends when they begin play in Region 6-AAAA on Friday on the road against defending region champion South Florence.
“It’s a good build up for our confidence for us in region play,” Frierson said. “I think we can win our region. It’s like building a winning mentality.
We couldn’t let it get to us,” Frierson added about HHS’ lull at the end of the first half and the start of the second half. “If it did, we would have shut down and they would have kept going up. We had to relax, focus and come back and do what we had to do.”
Fisher added 12 points for Hartsville, while Brooke Mitchell had eight and Jaz Reyes had seven.
Moses led GCHS with 33 points. Saniya Sanders added 11, Curtis had 10 and Demi Gray had eight.
Like Hartsville, Goose Creek is hoping its four tournament games will help it in its Region 6-AAAAA schedule.
“Being able to come here and play in this tournament is very good for us and getting ready for region play,” said Deas, whose 9-6 squad will play host to Berkeley on Friday in its region opener. “We were playing better, playing really hard. We were able to work on those things that we felt like we needed to for the region.”
Hartsville finished in a tie for second in its region last season and was 19-8 overall. Johnson hopes hoisting the trophy on Saturday will provide some confidence building for region play.
“Our goal is to win the region,: he said, “This is something tangible, to be able to hold the trophy. This is momentum we hopefully can carry over into Friday when we go to South Florence. We just want to build some momentum.”
GOOSE CREEK
Moses 33, Curtis 10, Sanders 11, Madison 2, Griffen 3, Copeland 2, Gray 8.
HARTSVILLE
Frierson 34, Gibson 6, Reyes 7, Mitchell 8, Abraham 3, Fisher 12, Thompson 3.
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