Myrtle Beach ‘trifecta’ looking to finally click on all cylinders

So much has been made of the Myrtle Beach’s success behind its top three players.

Nia Sumpter, Kiana Adderton and Keocia Walker each have an all-state selection under their belt over the course of the last three seasons. They’ve all had their fair share of big games at meaningful times.

Coach Jennifer Dennison, however, has been openly critical of the fact the Seahawks’ three stars have all yet to click on the same night since the calendar flipped to 2016. It’s filtered down to the players, who have been arguably tougher on themselves.

“I don’t know why it hasn’t happened yet,” Adderton said.

Saturday against Dreher in the Class AAA state championship would be an ideal time for that to finally take place.

The Blue Devils have won 22 straight games, with their only loss of the season coming to a Spring Valley squad playing for the Class AAAA title Friday night. They owned the No. 1 spot in the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association Class AAA rankings at the end of the regular season, and have won two state championships in the last four seasons.

Not that the Seahawks are just dodos in disguise.

In addition to the aforementioned all-state honors, Sumpter was named the Region VII-AAA Player of the Year this season, Adderton given the honor last season and Walker earning the nod in 2013-2014.

This year, they’re combining to average 35 points per game. Sumpter and Adderton, the team’s top two front-court players, snag better than 16 rebounds per game together, while Walker is dishing out an area-best 4.6 assists per game.

And even though none of the three players or their coach are too concerned with the individual statistics, they do back up the curious notion that they’ve yet to simultaneously have a big game. Only four times this year did all three score in double figures. It happened twice in region play – the second game against Wilson and then Feb. 11 against North Myrtle Beach.

Come playoff time, though, it wasn’t really all that close to happening until Saturday’s win over Wilson in the Lower State finals.

In fact, it may have been the best game for the trifecta all season.

They combined to score 43 points and grab 43 rebounds. Adderton and Sumpter finished with double-doubles, and Walker was one point shy of doing it herself.

But about that double-double mark – maybe not so surprising for a team playing for a state title – was that there were only five games all season in which neither of the two forwards recorded one. On the flip side, they both done so in a game five times.

As for Walker, so far this season she’s had nine double-digit scoring games, three double-digit assist games and one double-digit rebounding game. She may not be the scoring threat the other two are, but that’s not really her role.

Instead, it’s her job to bring it all together.

“We’re hoping that’s the team that’s going to show up Saturday night,” Dennison said. “Keocia’s ready. I think she’s going to lead this team to where they need to be.”

The cautious optimism probably has more to do with the opponent than anything else. North Carolina commitment Jhileiya Dunlap and juniors Jaelynn Murray and Kamryn Lemon combine to average roughly 56 points per game. That far outdoes what the Seahawks’ top three have done over the course of the year, although the two-out-of-three formula has played a role in the overall numbers.

Getting the third leg cranked up, however, would only be the start of what Myrtle Beach is hoping for against Dreher.

“I feel like two of us have done it at one time, but one of us would be off,” Sumpter said. “I feel like Saturday that all of us need to come together. … We need everybody who is on this team. We need everybody – coaches, managers – we’re gonna need everybody to win this game.”

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach ‘trifecta’ looking to finally click on all cylinders."