Clarendon Hall girls make epic run to SCISA AA finals

           Sumter – So just how epic was the run to the SCISA AA state championship game for the Clarendon Hall girls basketball team this season?

           “We haven’t been here since 1974,” said Lady Saints senior Sidney Berry. “That’s a long time.”

           For the record, Clarendon Hall won state that year. This edition did not, falling to 2-time defending state champion Cathedral Academy 54-43. Still, making a run 50 years later is memorable.

           “It's bittersweet,” said Lady Saints head coach Johnny Horton. “You don't want them to hang their heads, but you understand. They gave it all they had. I just told them how proud of them I am, and I appreciate them. 

           “We will always be able to say we made it to state together.”

           That Clarendon Hall did. It was seeded fourth in its half of the 6-team bracket. The Lady Saints opened with a 47-27 win over No. 5 seed Dillon Christian School. That set up a quarterfinal matchup with No. 1 seed The King’s Academy.

           It appeared Clarendon Hall’s season would end there. It trailed 34-19 with 3:13 remaining in the third quarter. However, Horton switched the Lady Saints to a full-court press defense, and they limited TKA to no field goals and just two free throws the rest of the way. CH rallied for a 42-36 victory.

           “It was one for the ages,” Horton said. “I'm proud of them. They never doubted me. They trusted everything I said. They went to work off of it, and that's all you can ask of a team. They believe in you, you believe in them.. That was working together.”

           “We just had to pump each other up and keep fighting,” Berry said in describing what took place in the rally. “We all just went crazy. We played as hard as we could, gave it all we had, 110 percent.”

           CH beat Dorchester Academy 55-51 in the semifinals. It had lost its two Region 1 contests to the Raiders.

           Horton wasn’t necessarily surprised his girls made the run to the title game.

           “I told the girls at the beginning of the season that they had what it takes to get here,. we just had to believe. That's what you saw throughout the season. They just believed in one another.”

           Berry and fellow senior Zoree Pritcher were selected to the All-Tournament team for the state tournament.

           While it had been 50 years since Clarendon Hall had played for a girls basketball state title, it has been a dominant force in softball with most of the same girls winning multiple state championships. Horton said that helps with basketball.

           “That helps a lot because they came to me with the chemistry already,” he said. “That chemistry was already there. And if they weren't playing softball together they were cheering together. All I had to do was coach. that was a good thing.”

           Berry was the leader for the Lady Saints. She averaged 18.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.0 steals. Juniors Ashley Berry and Mandy Wells also had strong seasons. Ashley averaged 9.0 points and 7.0 rebounds, while Wells averaged 8.0 points and 6.0 assists.

           Horton just completed his third season as the Clarendon Hall head coach. He said it has been a building process to get to this point.

           “It means a lot, Coming in, taking over a program that was sophomore -heavy,” Horton said. “I mean we had seven sophomores out of the gate knowing very little about basketball. We took it from the beginning, we took it slow. We knew it would take some time, and we were able to put some things together, find some things to work off of.”

           The other seniors are Macie McIntosh, Ashley Timmons, Lacey Corbett, Colleen McIntosh and Emma Brown.

           CLARENDON HALL BOYS FINISH 5-17

         Clarendon Hall went 5-17 under head coach Rick Atkinson, who was in the first season of his third tenure at the Summerton school. While not what was hoped for, the record was an improvement from last season’s 2-19 mark.

         The Saints had three players with outstanding numbers. Kole Elliott averaged 17 points, 16 rebounds and six assists, while Darius Aiken averaged 15 points. Bryce Jordan averaged 10 points, 20 rebounds and six blocked shots.