Here are the storylines, players to watch for the SCHSL basketball championships
The SC High School League basketball championships will be held Thursday through Saturday at The Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.
To get you ready for the matchups, here are storylines and players to watch in the 12 games.
Return to the Colonial Life Arena
The championship games are back in Columbia for the first time since 2020 after stops in Aiken and Florence the last five years.
The Midlands will have five teams playing close to home, including the Keenan girls, CA Johnson boys, Blythewood girls, Ridge View and Westwood boys, who are all going for titles. Keenan and CAJ are Columbia city schools, whose campuses are five miles from the CLA.
Richland 2 representing
For the second straight year, the Richland 2 school district will have three schools in the basketball championships: Blythewood girls, Ridge View and Westwood boys.
Ridge View will look to continue its hoops dominance, going for its seventh state championship in nine years. Seven titles would tie the Blazers for fourth-most all-time in boys, joining a tie with four other teams.
Blythewood girls will be going for their second straight championship. The Bengals’ title last year was just the fourth for a girls sport in school history (lacrosse, golf, track the others) since the school opened in 2025.
Westwood is going for the first team title in a boys sport in school history since the school began in 2012. The only other team title in school history was the Redhawk girls track program, which tied for state title with Ridge View in 2023.
North Augusta and Greenville go for the sweep
North Augusta and Greenville both have their girls and boys teams playing for the championship.
NA and Greenville could become the first teams since Keenan in 2020 to win boys and girls championships in the same weekend. Before that, Lee Central was the last team to do the weekend sweep.
It’s the second straight year both North Augusta teams are in the championship. The North Augusta girls are going for their second straight title and seventh since 2017. The Yellow Jacket boys are looking for the program’s first state title.
The Greenville boys are going for their second straight title but this one with a different coach. Former Ridge View and Oak Hill coach Yerrick Stoneman is in his first year with the Red Raiders’ program. Stoneman won four titles at Ridge View before going to Oak Hill.
The Greenville girls are making their first title appearance since losing to Myrtle Beach in the 2011 title game.
Former Gamecock has South Pointe in title game
As a player at South Carolina, Melvin Watson didn’t get a chance to play at The Colonial Life Arena. But Watson will be coaching at the CLA, leading his South Pointe squad back to Columbia in the Class 4A championship.
Watson was a four-year starter for the Gamecocks, who played at Carolina Coliseum then, from 1994-98, and was a three-time all-SEC selection. He finished his career as South Carolina’s all-time leader in games started (116) and career assists (543) and was inducted into the school’s hall of fame in 2011.
Watson and the Stallions are going for their second state title. South Pointe defeated Hilton Head in 2021 at the USC Aiken Coliseum.
South Pointe aims to join Christ Church (2014-15) becoming the first school to win football and boys basketball titles in the same school year.
Taelor Lee Sutton vs. Kami Roach matchup
The Keenan-Walhalla girls matchup features the last two Class 3A players of the year in Walhalla’s Kami Roach (2025) and Keenan’s Taelor Lee-Sutton (2026).
Roach averaged 14.9 points, 4.9 assists, 3.9, steals, 3.5 rebounds in helping the Razorbacks to the title last year. This season, the senior is averaging 14.5 points, 4.7 assists and 4.6 steals per game.
Sutton, a sophomore, is in her fourth year on the Raiders’ varsity squad and is averaging 22.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.4 steals and 3.3 assists per game and had a career-high 40 points against Riverside earlier this year.
State’s top-ranked girls prospect on display
Westside’s Khalia Hartwell, South Carolina’s top-ranked girls basketball prospect, will look to cap off her high school career with a title.
Hartwell and the Rams face North Augusta in the Class 4A championship. Westside is making its fourth championship appearance since 2021.
The 6-foot-5 Hartwell is No. 25 by ESPN’s HoopGurlz’s ranking for the Class of 2027 and has offers from several Power 4 schools including Duke, North Carolina, Iowa, Rutgers, Miami Central Florida, Notre Dame, Purdue, Louisville, TCU, Virginia, Houston, Indiana, Clemson and Ohio State.
Hartwell is averaging 12.9 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game.
Columbia native has Cavs back in title game
Columbia native John Butler will look to win a state championship in his hometown.
Butler, a Dreher High School graduate, is the head coach at Christ Church, which will be playing Fox Creek in the Class 3A championship on Friday at 4 p.m. The Cavs are going for their fourth state championship under Butler but first on the Class 3A level.
Butler hopes to win a state championship on the same floor where his son Jordan plays. Jordan is a member of the USC men’s basketball team.
Can anyone slow down the Military Magnet girls?
No team has been as dominant this postseason as the Military Magnet girls.
The Eagles have won their four postseason games by an average of 56 points, including a 76-29 win over Latta in the Class A Lower State championship.
Military Magnet will face Great Falls in the Class A title game at noon on Saturday, as it goes for its second straight championship and fifth in the last six years.
McLain could move into select company
If the Keenan girls defeat Walhalla for the 3A state championship, it would put coach Reggie McLain into select company with other area girls’ coaching greats.
It would be McLain’s seventh title as head coach, tying him with former Lower Richland coach Debbie Stroman and one behind former Dutch Fork and Spring Valley coach Anne Long.
Boys Players to Watch
Hooper Afman, Philip Simmons: Senior is averaging 13.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.
Chanze Allen, Fox Creek: Senior is averaging 13.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game.
Tristan Anderson, North Augusta: Junior is averaging 14 points, 4 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game.
Caden Coleman, Greenville: Senior is averaging 15.9 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
Jayden Crews, Westwood: Senior is averaging 14.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
RJ Davis, Ridge View: Sophomore is averaging 15.2 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.2 steals and 2.1 assists per game.
Clayton Everett Jr, Ashley Ridge: Senior is averaging 21.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.2 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.
Aiassac Germany, CA Johnson: Senior is averaging 15.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.
Milton McCray, CA Johnson: Class A Player of the Year is averaging 17.9 points, 4.6 assists and 3.1 steals per game.
Terrance McFadden, Bethune Bowman: Senior is averaging 16.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
CJ Moore, Ridge View: Sophomore is averaging 11.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.
Tony Odom, CA Johnson: Senior is averaging 15.8 points and 2.4 assists per game.
Jonathan Perry, Christ Church: Senior is averaging 13.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.
Trevan Raymon, South Pointe: Senior went over 2,000 points for his career and is averaging 21.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists.
Jordan Rouse, North Augusta: Senior is averaging 14.6 points, 4.7 assists, 4.5 rebounds 2 steals per game.
J’Sean Sanders, High Point Academy: Junior is averaging 18.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game.
Tucker Scholl, Greenville: Junior all-state selection is averaging 15.6 points. 4.7 bounds and 1.9 steals per game.
Kobe Sims, Fox Creek: Junior is averaging 13.8 points and 2.2 assists per game.
Talan Staley, Ridge View: Senior is averaging 14.3 points, 6.1 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game.
D’Marcus Thomas, Westwood: Senior is averaging 13.1 points, 3.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
Justin Vining, Fox Creek: Junior is averaging 12.3 points, 5.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game.
Quh’mareon Webb, North Augusta: Senior is averaging 17 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals per game.
DJ Wylie, Ridge View: Junior is averaging 14.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 2.3 assists per game.
Girls Players to Watch
Makayla Assemian, Greenville: Junior and younger sister of South Carolina forward Hayden Assemian is averaging 10.6 points, 6.6 rebounds per game.
Delaney Caldwell, Landrum: Sophomore is averaging 20.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, 4.8 steals and 3.8 assists per game.
DaZena Capers, Atlantic Collegiate: Sophomore is averaging 13.4 points and shooting 75 percent from the field.
Alaina Carter, Berkeley: Sophomore is averaging 12.7 points, 3.2 assists and 3.0 steals per game.
Kylie Fortner, Landrum: Senior is averaging 19.3 points and 2.4 steals per game.
Celena Grant, North Augusta: Senior is averaging 12.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.
Khalia Hartwell, Westside: Junior is averaging 12.9 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game.
Taelor Lee-Sutton, Keenan: Sophomore is averaging 22.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.4 steals and 3.3 assists per game.
Tiana Marshall, Westside: Freshman is averaging 13 points, 6.6 rebounds 3.2 steals and 2.8 assists per game.
Bella McKevitt, Wando: Freshman is averaging 14 points and 3.7 assists per game.
Kami Roach, Walhalla: Senior is averaging 14.5 points, 4.7 assists and 4.6 steals per game.
Ava Owens, Greenville: Senior is averaging 10.3 points, 11.4 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 3.0 steals per game.
McKenna Reynolds, Wando: Sophomore hit game-winning shot in 5A Division I Lower State championship game and is averaging 12.5 points, 4.8 rebounds 3.3 steals and 2.3 assists per game.
Ava Rush, Wando: Senior is averaging 12.6 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game.
Chase Thomas, Blythewood: Senior and Class 5A co-Player of the Year is averaging 22 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.
Ashley Walker, North Augusta: Junior is averaging 17.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.7 steals and 2.2 assists per game.
India Williams, Blythewood: Senior is averaging 14.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.8 steals per game.
This story was originally published March 4, 2026 at 1:12 PM with the headline "Here are the storylines, players to watch for the SCHSL basketball championships."
