Hanahan girls solid during first half of season

By Rob Gantt

Special to the HSSR

HANAHAN – Hanahan High School’s girls basketball team had to replace an abundance of weapons from a squad that produced the program’s best performance in 11 years, but has been solid over the first half of the season on the hardwood.



A great deal of scrappiness remained behind as the Hawks take aim at the top half of a tough region.

 “I’m real proud of the girls,” said fifth-year HHS coach Alison Cappelloni, whose squad won 15 games and made the second round of the playoffs in 2023-24. “They’re finding a way. We’re putting on different types of pressure and playing good defense. They’re working together. When you’re not scoring as much as you want, you’ve got to find ways, and they’re doing that. It’s been awesome.”

Cappelloni’s bunch improved to 8-4 on the season with a 2-1 showing in the Carolina Invitational Dec. 27-30. The Hawks defeated Cathedral (53-25) and Cardinal Newman (49-33) and dropped a close one against Lake Marion (42-40).

Sophomore guard Bri Johnsen paces the Hawks on the scoreboard (8.5 ppg), steals (4.5 spg) and assists (2.5 apg), while sophomore Selena Riley (5.1 rpg) and senior Camdyn Lawson (4.5 rpg) are the top rebounders. Lawson is the second-leading scorer with 7.4 points per game.

Johnson and Lawson are all-region players returning. Sophomore guard Ellie Tyson is another returning starter and is a consistent contributor with steals and assists.

Riley, transfer Bri Allen and Tyson are the third- through fifth-leading scorers.

“I think we’re capable of placing high in our region and performing well against the tougher teams,” Cappelloni said. “We want to host a playoff game like last year and go further in the playoffs. We’re going to have to win close games because that’s what good teams do. We can’t just win the easy ones.”

Some tough ones are ahead, indeed. The Hawks are in a league with two of the best teams in the state. No. 1 Oceanside Collegiate (as of Dec. 3) and No. 4 Orangeburg-Wilkinson are part of Region 6-3A with North Charleston and Battery Creek.

“We’re trying to use our speed and play fast,” Cappelloni said. “We’re not super tall, so we’re going to try to get up and down the court, play aggressively and take some chances on defense. The offense will come around.”