Dennison’s toughness has left indelible mark on her players, peers

Jennifer Dennison had doubts she would coach a game this season.

She put on a face of confidence to her Myrtle Beach girls basketball players when they visited her in the hospital or at her house over the course of four months and multiple surgeries. But in her own head, with so much time to herself away from the game, even Dennison wondered when she would return to lead one of the most talented girls basketball teams in South Carolina.

Looking back at everything she went through late last summer and throughout the fall, it’s made the last 19 games and all the success the Seahawks have had so far this season that much sweeter. Myrtle Beach will play in the Class AAA Lower State finals against Wilson on Friday night in the Florence Civic Center. The team’s fourth-year head coach will be front and center.

“It’s helping me personally. It’s pushing me more,” Dennison said. “I’ve always attended church. I’ve always prayed. Since I’ve had this, I’ve had a different approach. Yes, I’m teaching you basketball. But I’m teaching life situations.”

Dennison preferred not to get into specifics, referring to them only as “health issues.” However, she outlined a time frame that began in August with one operation that led to another. And another.

And then a fourth and final one in November.

Since then, she’s required twice-monthly trips to the Medical University of South Carolina for follow-up appointments. Her first Seahawk game in person this year – while assistant Larry Bowen was in charge of the team’s day-to-day activities – came early in the season against Socastee. She watched from her spot in a wheel chair.

Then, on Dec. 17 against Christ the King during the Crescom Bank Holiday Invitational, she coached her first game of the season, using the help of a walker. By New Year’s Day, she was fully upright on her own power.

“I knew she wasn’t 100 percent,” senior guard Keocia Walker said. “I felt like she was pushing it to be with us. If she could do it, we could too. We owed her that. It showed us the love she had for our team. She put her health on the line, legit, to be with us.”

Dennison’s commitment to Myrtle Beach is second-nature to her. She graduated from the school in 1993, having helped the Seahawks to the 1992 state championship game. She worked for the program in one fashion or another for nearly a decade before becoming a full-time assistant under Brian Kiper for four seasons, including back-to-back state titles in 2010 and 2011.

When Dennison was officially promoted to replace Kiper in August 2012, she said she bled green and gold. She failed to rest on her past, though, pushing a squad that other coaches recognized had serious potential.

The Seahawks were knocked out of the playoffs in the second round during Dennison’s first year before consecutive third-round exits the following two seasons. This year, Myrtle Beach broke through, beating Lakewood, Stall and Crestwood to advance to Friday’s game against regular Region VII-AAA foe Wilson – the last team to hand the Seahawks a loss.

Count Tigers coach Gerrin Harrison as another person who never felt Dennison would miss the entire season, if for no other reason than that she’s seen her peer’s drive for the game during their short time together in region meetings or coaching against each other. Harrison rattled off a list of coaches statewide who she considers at the top of their field, with Dennison’s name anchoring the small group.

“A female coming into the profession in general, preparing me to lead, she’s one to be admired,” Harrison said. “She’s a competitor. I knew she would be ready for me. I never even thought she would not be coaching this year.”

The “ready for me” line wasn’t out of the blue. Dennison, known for openly predicting single-game and season-long results, told Harrison prior to the year that the region title would come down to one of them. Dennison also flashed an “I knew it” type of reaction when informed last week that Wilson had knocked off Orangeburg-Wilkinson and started preparing for a possible Lower State rematch.

Wilson, after all, already owns one win against Myrtle Beach this year, a 56-53 victory to open region play back on Jan. 9. Twenty days later, the Seahawks returned the favor by handing the Tigers a 59-35 thumping.

The rubber match will have the highest stakes, with a trip to next week’s Class AAA state championship game on the line. Dennison, as Walker put it, will be “empowering” her team from the bench.

“I think it was a momentum builder for the girls,” Dennison said. “When I was out with my health issues, I was praying for them every single day. Everybody has been so supportive. They saw me when I was down.”

And now when she’s back up.

This story was originally published February 25, 2016 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Dennison’s toughness has left indelible mark on her players, peers."