Myrtle Beach girls basketball faces uphill battle in vying for third straight title

During stretches of last season, Brian Kiper would often lay into his players at unexpected times.

The Myrtle Beach girls basketball coach was worried about complacency. He didn’t want to get to a point where his team – one that had already won one state title – thought it could win another one on talent alone.

Kiper often screamed until his players got the picture, he was red in the face, or both.

After the fact, the players liked to laugh about it. They realized getting ripped while they were beating an opponent by 20 points didn’t make much sense at the time. But they also realized what Kiper was going for. It was a plan that worked.

The Seahawks won a second consecutive Class AAA state title with a squad full of stars. Now, with several of the key components of those two championship teams having moved on, the remaining Myrtle Beach players are expecting those “motivation sessions” from Kiper to not only have more meaning, but also to become a bit more frequent.

“We’re probably going to get some more yelling,” senior guard Khadijah Sessions said. “It’s going to be a lot more.”

The Seahawks are ranked No. 1 in Class AAA in the state’s preseason poll. But make no mistake, this is a very different Myrtle Beach team Kiper is working with.

Gone are Shatia Cole, D.J. Hunter and Keyaurna Wilson, three players who moved on to Coastal Carolina. Key reserve Danielle Cooper also graduated.

Opposing teams have little reason to feel sorry for the Seahawks, primarily because of what remains.

It starts with Sessions. The University of South Carolina signee is generally considered one of the top players in the state, especially after impressive showings in both of those state championship games. She averaged 17.9 points, 5.7 assists, four steals and 2.9 rebounds per game as a junior.

Versatile junior Tanisha Brown is also back in uniform. Brown, committed to North Carolina since her freshmen year, scored 13.5 points per game last season while adding about seven rebounds and 2.5 steals per contest.

“I’ve told people, when you have the two girls we have, which I feel are two of the better players in Class AAA, we’re still going to compete with every team,” Kiper said. “But I think ultimately, the success of our team is going to be how these other players accept their roles. Are they going to be able to put in the time to make Myrtle Beach what it is?”

The only other returning player with significant varsity experience, Tyrenda Sutton, is also expected to start. After that, it’s going to be a system of trials and errors for Kiper. He scaled back the schedule a hair to reflect that.

The Seahawks will still play in the Crescent Bank Holiday Invitational, but they traded a trip to a prestigious tournament in Ohio for a more localized one in Florence. The goal of those is still the same, though; Myrtle Beach wants to make sure it wins the Region VIII-AAA title and position itself for another strong playoff run.

And some extra yelling or not, winning that state title will be substantially more difficult than the previous two seasons.

“I think this would be even more special,” Sessions said. “One, because I’m a senior. Two, because not too many people think we are going to do it. And three, it’s going to add more history to what we’ve already done at this place.”