South Pointe girls’ basketball team leaning on core players to succeed
The South Pointe girls’ basketball team is coming into this season with a lot to prove.
Coming off a 25-3 season, the school’s best in three years, the Stallions return a lot of talent including all-region star Victoria Starr Morris. The plan this year is to advance to the school’s first championship game in three years.
“As a team collectively, we play more team ball,” Morris said. “I feel like we have a lot of leaders to help show us, guide us in the way. And our playing style is just a bit different from last year. We play a lot more defense, we execute the game a little bit more. We just have a lot more knowledge of basketball on the team from last year.”
Led by Morris, South Pointe won its first 19 games to start the season. The Stallions ultimately finished second in the region and lost 53-50 to North Augusta in the second round of the S.C. 4A playoffs.
In the offseason, Morris, a 5-10 forward, said she has worked on improving her game and is determined to push her team deep into the postseason. She averaged 14 points, nine rebounds and three steals as a junior.
“I’ve been working on becoming a more versatile player, being more physical on the floor and showing my dominance against players,” Morris said. “We play in an aggressive way. We already have the aggressiveness, just showing that IQ would just elevate our game a whole lot more. Making open shots, passing the ball, that would just do a lot for us.”
Another player that South Pointe is looking to rely on this season is freshman forward Ja’Nyia Cunningham.
Cunningham received significant playing time as an eighth-grader for Northwestern last season, averaging 11 points and a team-leading nine rebounds in 19 games for the Trojans.
Playing primarily near the basket last season, Cunningham is embracing a role at forward with the Stallions, distancing her from the basket and requiring her to get used to guarding smaller opponents.
“(I’ve been working on) getting faster, transforming from a big to a small forward,” the 6-foot-1 freshman said. “Being able to help my team on both defense and offense, being a threat on both ends.”
Cunningham said that she has always served as the big on her basketball teams growing up. However, the new position is a challenge that she’s not going to back away from.
“(One of the biggest challenges is) keeping up with the pace,” she said. “A post player, they’re not usually as fast as a guard. (The guard) is running the court the whole time. Just IQ-wise, being able to control the ball, handle the ball with pace and everything.”
Controlling the South Pointe offense will be eighth-grader Kaleigh Lucas.
The 5-foot-4 point guard started on varsity as a seventh-grader and she finished second on the team in minutes (27.0), fourth in points (9.7) and third in assists (2.5).
Lucas said that coming into this year, she wants to have better control of the game. In her second year of varsity basketball, Lucas said that she’ll be more disciplined and well-adjusted to the physicality of her opponents.
“Last season, my defense wasn’t too good,” she said. “And I need to shoot more consistently.”
Lucas has also amassed a major social media following as the top-ranked player in the state in her class, with more than 2,000 followers on X (formerly known as Twitter).
“I feel like I can distribute on offense,” she said. “It’s really about running the offense, running the plays and calling the defenses.”
▪ South Pointe’s first game is scheduled for Nov. 24 against Lower Richland in the 2023 She Got Next Thanksgiving Classic.
This story was originally published October 29, 2023 at 7:30 AM with the headline "South Pointe girls’ basketball team leaning on core players to succeed."
