Adderton, Myrtle Beach girls top Lakewood in 1st round of playoffs

Kiana Adderton has quietly put up solid numbers all year for the Myrtle Beach girls basketball team.

Monday wasn’t one of those nights.

With the Seahawks getting pushed a bit more than some of their recent first-round playoff games, Adderton scored 23 points and added 11 rebounds, helping Myrtle Beach to a 46-29 win over Lakewood.

“Teams are just sleeping on her,” head coach Jennifer Dennison said. “We told her last week that she makes a difference. She needs to step it up in the playoffs, regardless of what she did in the regular season. I knew what she was capable of.”

Adderton’s regular-season numbers were nothing to scoff at. She averaged 10.5 points and 6.7 rebounds for a team that won a region championship and played a solid non-conference schedule. Still, she also wasn’t the focal point most games.

Fellow junior forward Nia Sumpter has been having a better year statistically, even if their figures are certainly feeding off each other’s talents. Against the Gators, Adderton had the front court to herself for much of the game.

After Sumpter was called for her second foul early in the second quarter, she went to the bench. That’s when Adderton came alive. She scored 11 points that period and had 15 at the break.

“I never feel like an underdog,” Adderton said. “But I do feel like since Nia’s having a great year, people are expecting her to be on a higher level.”

Sumpter, who also had to leave the game temporarily in the third with a small cut, contributed 11 points of her own, allowing the duo to outscore Lakewood by themselves. Much of that could be credited to the Seahawks’ defense catching on after halftime.

The Gators, last year’s Class AAA Lower State champs, scored only two points in the fourth, in part due to the Seahawks’ deliberate offensive sets that frequently resembled a game of keep away.

The total effort extended Myrtle Beach’s streak of at least one playoff victory another year. The Seahawks have done so every year since the current South Carolina High School League playoff format went into effect during the 2002-2003 season. In that span, the team is 32-11 in the postseason.

The instant reward was advancing to the next round, where it will face Stall for the second consecutive season in the second round at home. Win there, and it could be on to an expected matchup at home Monday against Crestwood, another team – like Myrtle Beach – that is ranked among the top four in Class AAA.

The Seahawks won last time 51-39, but Adderton wasn’t about to make the same mistake others may have against her this season.

“We struggled against that zone,” Adderton said. “We have to go back and prepare ourselves to beat them again.”

This story was originally published February 15, 2016 at 9:27 PM with the headline "Adderton, Myrtle Beach girls top Lakewood in 1st round of playoffs."