Myrtle Beach weathers storm, beats Christ the King to advance at CresCom Invitational

Before this year, the Myrtle Beach girls basketball team had never won a first round game in the CresCom Bank Holiday Invitational.

But there’s a first for everything.

Seahawks senior Keocia Walker and junior Kiana Adderton had 15 points apiece, Nia Sumpter added seven points and 13 rebounds, and Myrtle Beach beat Christ the King (N.Y.) 57-52 Thursday night at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center to advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament for the first time in school history.

“I’m really proud of my teammates. We stuck together and shocked one of the best teams in the nation,” Adderton said. “This is a huge win for us to keep our undefeated record and gives us some momentum moving forward.”

The lead changed hands seven times in the first half. However, the Seahawks created themselves some distance with a 13-3 run in the final minutes of the first half and took a 27-19 lead over the Royals into the locker room.

Walker had 10 of her 15 points in the first half to set the tone for Myrtle Beach early on.

“I’m proud of my performance, but even more proud of my team,” Walker said.

Though doing its part to build upon the lead, a resilient Christ the King squad eventually began chipping away at the Seahawks’ advantage. With just over a minute remaining, the Royals got within two — but that would be as close as they would get as the Seahawks made their share of clutch shots down the stretch to preserve the win.

“You’ve got to be able to make plays down the stretch,” Christ the King coach Bob Mackey said. “Myrtle Beach did just that.”

Walker said the Seahawks got a little complacent in the second half, but the Myrtle Beach coaches and bench were right there there to pick them up.

“We knew we had the lead and it seemed like we got a little comfortable and it showed. It really showed,” Walker said. “But it took the help of our coaches and definitely our bench to pick us up and tell us they’re not just going to give us the game. So we stepped up, kept our composure and did what we had to do.”

For much of the year, Myrtle Beach had been without head coach Jennifer Dennison as she was away from the team on medical leave. But Dennison was back on the bench Thursday, her presence offering the team a much-needed boost.

“She had some health issues and it’s good to see her back out there leading us and cheering us on,” Adderton said. “It’s a blessing.”

Said Walker: “It was definitely weird not having her around. But having her back and for us to perform like this shows her that we’ve been working hard and doing it for her. We’re keeping our composure and for her to be back and see us play like this is awesome.”

Dennison handed the mic to assistant coach Jeremy Howard, who said he feels like Thursday’s win is one of the biggest in program history. But the Seahawks certainly don’t want to stop there.

“Huge, huge win; the girls needed this. It really gives us some confidence as a team,” Howard said. “We’ve only been able to see teams from this area [so far], so playing in this type of event is great. We have all the same players as last year and just watching these girls develop from then until now is incredible; they’ve all improved and stepped up. It’s great for them to be seeing all this good competition here at the CresCom.

“But this is a great win for us. We’re going to celebrate a little bit, but stay focused on the goal.”

Walker said she and her team should benefit greatly just from participating in the talent-laden tournament.

“Around here, there’s not quite as good competition. So playing against good teams out here will show us our weaknesses and things we need to work on,” Walker said. “Down the road, we can look back on things we did good out here and use it to our advantage.”

Christ the King was led by University of Virginia signee Dominique Toussaint (17 points, 10 rebounds), and Louisville signee Sydney Zambrotta (21 points, five assists). Mackey gave the Seahawks a lot of credit for their execution in the contest.

“Not what you plan on, but Myrtle Beach played a real good game. I have to give them credit; they worked real hard,” he said. “I thought [Walker] shot the ball really well and did a real good job. They rebounded the ball hard; I thought they played hard defense. But once we got down, they just jumped on us.”

The Seahawks are back in action Saturday and will look to keep making history.

“We have big plans,” Walker said.

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 11:34 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach weathers storm, beats Christ the King to advance at CresCom Invitational."