Historic season comes to end for St. James girls

MURRELLS INLET -- The Lower Richland girls basketball team is used to winning state championships, not finishing second in its region.

So the Diamond Hornets may believe they have a little more to prove this year than they have in recent years after finishing as the runner-up in Region V-AAA to Dreher.

They proved their mettle Thursday night to St. James, which enjoyed its first girls basketball region title in school history this season and a playoff victory earlier this week, but couldn’t overcome LR’s relentless defensive pressure and fell 57-49 in the second round of the Class AAA playoffs.

“It was sort of like a wake-up call,” said 19-year LR coach Debbie Stroman, whose teams have won six state titles, the last in 2009. “We always kind of floated through the region with no problem. So now we have some competition and it makes us understand we have something to work on, that we haven’t gotten there yet.”

Giving LR (19-4) more motivation was its second-round exit from the playoffs at home last year. “The team has kept working hard, they want to get better and want to be part of something big,” Stroman said. “They want to be champions.”

Turnovers induced by full-court pressure helped LR build an eight-point halftime lead before the Sharks mounted a third-quarter comeback and had the lead down to four points with the ball. Senior guard Keyana Rutledge led the mild rally with six of her 15 points in the third, but the Sharks were never able to get the basket that threatened LR’s lead.

Lower Richland’s balanced offense featured five players in double figures, led by Jasmine Richardson’s 14 points, which all came on free throws as she went 14 of 20 at the foul line, including 9 of 14 in the fourth quarter to help LR salt away the victory.

“We came out in the second half and cut it down to four, but we made a few mistakes defensively and let them build the lead back up and we never recovered after that,” St. James coach Stan Patterson said.

The Sharks’ pair of 6-foot-1 seniors Stephanie Roberts and Monica Smalls controlled the inside when given the opportunity, as Roberts had a double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds and Smalls contributed seven points and 12 rebounds. But LR’s pressure often kept the Sharks from setting up a halfcourt game.

“We were focused on getting the ball inside,” Patterson said. “For the most part I thought we did a pretty good job. We got away from it some in the first half but their pressure led to that. In the second half I think we really focused on getting the ball inside to Steph and Monica.”

LR’s leading scorer on the season, center Breshay Johnson, was in early foul trouble and eventually fouled out with 10 points, so 6-1 eighth-grader Dejay Williford battled Roberts inside and contributed 10 points. “We were able to depend on her a lot inside,” Stroman said. “She gave us what we needed.”

•  LOWER RICHLAND (57) – Jasmine Richardson 14, Christina Brown 11, Breshay Johnson 10, Ashley Irving 10, Dejay Williford 10, Deirea Davis 2.

•  ST. JAMES (49) – Stephanie Roberts 16, Keyana Rutledge 15, Briahna Dickerson 8, Monica Smalls 7, Charisma Rodriguez 3.

• 3-point goals: None. Team fouls: Lower Richland 23, St. James 23. Fouled out: Johnson (LR), Rutledge (SJ). Technical fouls: None.

• Records: Lower Richland 19-4, St. James 21-5.