St. James’ debut in Holiday Invitational special for athletic director

Paula Lee couldn’t be more excited about having St. James in the Crescent Bank Holiday Invitational this year.

It’s even more special considering the St. James athletic director helped bring the event to fruition.

Lee was the head basketball coach at Socastee High School for 17 years and in 1999 helped the likes of mayor John Rhodes and former Socastee coaches Dan D’Antoni and Billy Hurston start the annual holiday showcase.

On Monday, Lee will make her return to the event when the Sharks make their debut against Norcross (Ga.) at 5:15 p.m.

“I can’t wait to go Monday,” Lee said Friday. “It’s almost like a welcome back for me.”

St. James boasts a girls basketball team that is 6-0 heading into the event.

“I think it can’t really do anything but make us better,” Sharks coach Stan Patterson said. “Everytime you play against better competition you hope to learn. We hope to get better and learn from it.”

The competition may be at an all-time high, Rhodes, the tournament’s director, said.

“I think that what we’ve been able to do is attract more quality teams than in the past,” he said. “We kind of had a breakthrough last year of teams getting interested in coming to our event because of the way it is run.

“Our biggest competition was the Tournament of Champions out in Phoenix going on at the same time. We’re starting to get teams that went there to come here because of expenses and the way the economy is.

“We’re getting college scouts out here,” he added. “The big thing is the competition. It is getting stronger and stronger so that’s what they what.”

Rhodes said the tournament will feature seven to eight future McDonald’s All-Americans.

“The quality of basketball that these young ladies play that we’re bringing in is not what you see on a normal basis,” he said.

Myrtle Beach and Socastee are also in the tournament. Seahawks star Khadijah Sessions, who has signed to play for South Carolina, will be making her final appearance in the event.

“I think it’s exciting because you’ll see Khadijah competing against top-level players,” Rhodes said. “We’ve got teams coming in that are beating teams by 30 and 40 points [back home]. They come here and that’s not going to happen.”

The tournament also features on Sunday the Carolinas Challenge, which is a showcase of three college matchups. East Carolina plays Jacksonville (1 p.m.), South Carolina plays North Carolina (3 p.m.) and Coastal Carolina takes on South Carolina State (5 p.m.).

“We’ve got some high-powered athletes that are showcasing [in the event],” Rhodes said. “If you love basketball you’ll see these ladies play at the top level.”

For Lee, it’s even more than that.

“It’s grown and gotten bigger every year. It’s kind of like a dream come true [to be involved],” she said. “Having another local team involved, and it happens to be where I am working, it’s wonderful.”