Myrtle Beach girls halt Wilson’s long-standing home winning streak

Myrtle Beach’s second-ranked girls outscored Wilson 17-6 in the first quarter and never looked back to win 67-56 Friday, handing coach Gerrin Harrison’s Tigers their first home loss since Jan. 27, 2015, against St. James.

“Now that we lost tonight, we’ll learn from this,” said Harrison, whose fifth-ranked team is 11-4. “We’ll win or we’ll learn. And tonight, we learned a big lesson.”

The biggest lesson, according to Harrison? Her team needs a better team effort.

Case in point: Wilson’s Shamiyah Barnes returned from injury to score 17 points. Teammate D’asia Gregg, however, scored nine and was followed by Bryanna Goodson with eight.

“You’ve got to have play from all the players,” said Harrison, who credited younger players like Avahna Baker, who finished with 11. “Shamiyah came to play tonight. And, we really needed Goodson and Gregg to step up a little bit more. (Baker, Casma Washington, Loyal McQueen) gave me a lot. They gave great minutes. But we needed a total team to beat a great team.”

In a rematch of last season’s Class 3A Lower State final at the Florence Civic Center, also won by the Seahawks, Kianna Adderton led Myrtle Beach on Friday with 31 points, including nine during that pivotal first quarter. Kira Bell added 11, followed by Jalah Horton with 10.

“We just told the girls to stay focused,” said Myrtle Beach coach Jennifer Dennison, whose team improved to 11-2. “These are the kind of games you have to be ready for. This is a hard place to play in. But the girls kept their heads focused until the end. It’s just the little things.”

The Seahawks earned their first double-digit lead, 17-6, with a 3-pointer atop the key by Horton. And, Myrtle Beach’s largest lead was 46-29 late in the third quarter.

Near game’s end, the rivalry between the two teams really became evident late when Sumpter clapped her hands to taunt Wilson and was whistled for a technical foul.

Barnes, in turn, showed her displeasure with Sumpter and herself was assessed a technical foul.

For fifth-ranked Wilson, meanwhile, the Tigers’ solace is they meet again Jan. 27 at Myrtle Beach.

“(Myrtle Beach) is a tough team and they hustle,” Harrison said. “We need all our players at all times to do that. We’ll see them again.”

This story was originally published January 6, 2017 at 9:01 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach girls halt Wilson’s long-standing home winning streak."