High school roundup (Dec. 4)

The Myrtle Beach girls basketball team is proving that it’s a force to be reckoned with.

And the Seahawks are doing it without their leader as head coach Jennifer Dennison is still away from the team on medical leave.

Under interim coach Larry Bowen, Nia Sumpter had a game-high 22 points, Kiana Adderton scored 12 and Myrtle Beach led from start to finish en route to a dominant 62-36 victory Friday over Carolina Forest to continue it’s roll to start the season.

The Seahawks won three straight to claim the championship of the Lady Sand & Hoops Invitational preseason tournament at Socastee High School, and Myrtle Beach has now beat two Class AAAA opponents (Socastee, Carolina Forest) to start the year.

And the Seahawks are beating opponents by an average margin of 33 points, with their closest game being Friday’s 26-point win over the Panthers. Myrtle Beach’s biggest win was also against Carolina Forest, 70-24, in the championship game of the Lady Sand & Hoops Invitational. Panthers coach Stacy Hughes has noticed a decent turnaround for her team between the games, and knew her squad would have it’s hands full Friday.

“Myrtle Beach is talented. They’re so deep,” Hughes said. “They have a lot of skilled players, but I thought we played them better than the first time we met. We’re getting better every day and I’m not upset at all, I’ve got a great group of young kids that are working hard.”

Cheyenne Pyles had a team-high 12 points to go along with four assists and four steals, Alexis Tomlin added nine points and 15 rebounds and Ellen Nardella scored seven for Carolina Forest (1-1). The Panthers travel to take on Laney (Wilmington, N.C.) at 1 p.m. Saturday.

“We have a good shot of going in there and bouncing back,” Hughes said. “We need to put pressure on them; they’re not scoring quite as many points as they did last year. But we need to do some things that we can’t necessarily do with Myrtle Beach and play well down low.”

High school boys basketball

▪ North Myrtle Beach 58, (at) Loris 51 | Cameron Koehler was eager for his Chiefs to pick up their first win Friday night.

And North Myrtle Beach came through for the second-year coach.

The Chiefs led by just one at halftime, but picked it up in the second half en route to a victory over the Lions. Maurice Finch and Caleb Guice had 10 points apiece, and Tyler Gore scored nine for North Myrtle Beach (1-1).

“We played with great effort and a lot of young guys stepped up and answered the call,” Koehler said. “We brought energy to the floor and when push came to shove, we executed and did well. It was a great team effort; 10 of 12 guys scored so everyone contributed. It was good.”

Carolina Forest handed the Chiefs their first loss, 66-48, on Tuesday. The Panthers will host North Myrtle Beach next Tuesday, and Koehler hopes his squad can build on it’s momentum and get vengeance against a deep Carolina Forest squad.

“Last Tuesday it was a tough outing,” he said. “But we have a lot of young guys and going into this one, we know we need to change our gameplan. They’ve got a lot of size and athleticism so our approach needs to be different. We just need to execute on offense, get ready for zone defense, tweak some things and have some of the young guys step up again like they did [Friday].”

Meanwhile, Travis Walters paced the Lions with a game-high 14 points and Hedien Goodman chipped in 12. Loris will travel to take on West Columbus on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

▪ (At) St. James 53, Socastee 42 | Zach Werba scored a team-high 14 points as four Sharks starters scored in double figures en route to a win over the Braves.

Fields and Jackson Hurston had 10 points each and Jordan Furlough scored 11 for St. James. Meanwhile, Werba drilled four of the Sharks’ eight 3-pointers.

“St. James made six 3-pointers to start the first half and built a 15-point lead at halftime and was able to withstand Socastee’s second-half run for the victory,” St. James coach Monty Carr said.

Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach (0-5) will host the Sharks (1-1) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Carr said he and St. James want to keep the ball rolling.

“That’s what we’re going to try to do,” Carr said.

Meanwhile, Kendrell Generette posted a team-high 14 points and Marcus Hemingway added 11 for Socastee (1-2). The Braves host Myrtle Beach on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

▪ (At) Carolina Forest 75, Myrtle Beach 52 | Matt Weatherwax had a team-high 19 points, Damon McDowell scored 17 and Duane Moss chipped in 12 as the Panthers downed the Seahawks, who had just seven players dressed due to the school’s football team playing for the Class AAA Lower State championship Friday night.

Tariq Timmons added 11 points and Richmond Collier scored nine for Carolina Forest, which improved to 2-0. Myrtle Beach dropped to 1-1.

“The team put forth an excellent, unselfish performance,” Carolina Forest coach Brian Brunson said. “The unselfish play was shown with the Panthers having four scorers in double digits.”

Laney (Wilmington, N.C.) will host the Panthers on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Conway hosts the Seahawks on Saturday at 6 p.m.

High school girls basketball

▪ North Myrtle Beach 60, (at) Loris 37 | After a tough loss against Carolina Forest to start the season, the Chiefs were hungry for a win.

They got one Friday.

Aquera Johnson poured in a game-high 18 points and Julie Carini contributed 15 to lead North Myrtle Beach over the Lions.

“We played well tonight,” Chiefs coach Jude Hunt said. “I’m proud of our defense. Our post players did good job of getting ball inside and scoring; I was really pleased.”

The Chiefs fell to Carolina Forest on Tuesday in the season opener. North Myrtle Beach will have an opportunity to make headway and get back at the Panthers as Carolina Forest hosts the Chiefs on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

“I feel like we did OK the first time we played [Carolina Forest],” Hunt said. “We need to put together a few more things and get ready for a tough game; they’ve got some good players as well.”

This story was originally published December 4, 2015 at 11:52 PM with the headline "High school roundup (Dec. 4)."