A clash of 2 unique Rock Hill powers, plus all area HS basketball scores and standings
One is a fully formed team, a group of players old and young who have proven their mettle through 10 games and who are chasing something they came so close to getting last year.
The other is a team that hasn’t yet been fully put together but one with sky-high potential and state championship expectations nonetheless.
And both were in the same building on Friday night.
The former is the Rock Hill girls’ basketball team — an 8-3 group coached by Kenny Orr who is returning a core group of guards that lost in the Upper State championship last year to eventual 5A state champion Clover. The Bearcats used a 12-1 run to start the game to defeat South Pointe 59-32 at home on Friday night and stake an early claim in the city championship race.
Everywhere you turned, you could see the Rock Hill girls’ potential: You could see it in how they handled the South Pointe press. (Having an abundance of guards will do that.) You saw it in their senior talent. (Senior Jada Jones finished with 11 points, senior Gracie Wilson finished with 10 and junior Laila Hankerson finished with 10.) You saw it in their young talent. (The team’s leading scorer was freshman Alyssa Hankerson, who finished with 17 points and four 3s, and her twin sister, Alaina, finished with five and a 3-ball of her own.)
You saw it particularly in their discipline: In two different end-of-quarter situations — at the end of the first and the end of the third — the Bearcats held the ball for 40-plus seconds and scored deflating buckets right before the buzzer sounded.
“We call it dancing,” head coach Kenny Orr told The Herald postgame. “When we’re dancing, it’s like we’re dancing to a song. We’re trying to take time off. And you know, most songs are like three minutes, so we were just trying to dance, just get out of the quarter, and fortunately we were able to hit a shot on both instances.”
He added: “We’re guard-oriented. You know, I can literally throw out 10 or 11 guards out there. So we’re big on handling the ball and trying to finish. We didn’t finish every time, but you know we’re going to finish more times than not.”
And the latter? The aforementioned team with the state championship expectations who are far from a finished product? That’s the South Pointe boys’ team.
The Stallions jumped out to an early double-digit lead and let their rivals make it a game in the second half before defeating the Rock Hill boys 57-47 in the nightcap on Friday night at RHHS. They did so fresh off a football state championship the week before. That means that many of the team’s players — including senior forward Zay McCrorey, senior guard Waymond Jenerette, senior guard Jakhari Webb, senior point guard Chris McCullough and senior guard Quan Peterson (who was at an All-Star football game and missed Friday night) — are new to this year’s squad.
For head coach Melvin Watson, who led the Stallions to a state title last season and still have state championship expectations, it’s a bit of a balancing act.
“Rivalry games are always tough,” Watson said. He added, “We haven’t had a full team yet. Some of these guys haven’t played basketball since the state championship game. So it’s going to take some time, and we’re going to have to be patient, even though we know we have the chance to be really good. And I expect it to be up and down like tonight.”
South Pointe was led by JJ Hicklin (26 points), Corinthian Finch (seven points), Jenerette (eight points after briefly leaving the game with cramps) and Webb (six points).
Here’s what else you need to know about the area’s basketball teams from this week.
Boys’ basketball scores this week
Monday
Rock Hill 52, Andrew Jackson 48
Buford 56, Lewisville 41
Tuesday
Clover 50, Northwestern 48
Fort Mill 77, Indian Land 51
Elevation Prep 63, Rock Hill 62
Catawba Ridge 45, Nation Ford 28
York 62, Chester 36
Lancaster 64, Pageland Central 49
York Prep 81, Great Falls 60
Wednesday
Lancaster 44, Northwestern 42
South Point (NC) 59, York 36
Union 62, Chester 34
Chesterfield 65, Lewisville 51
Friday
South Pointe 57, Rock Hill 47
Catawba Ridge 41, Fort Mill 37
Clover 64, York 41
Northwestern 54, Spartanburg 45
Marvin Ridge 46, Nation Ford 42
Lancaster 70, Blythewood 63
Andrew Jackson 59, Great Falls 40
North Central 75, Lewisville 50
Girls basketball scores this week
Monday
Rock Hill 75, Andrew Jackson 16
Buford 46, Lewisville 13
Tuesday
Clover 36, Northwestern 32
Catawba Ridge 72, Nation Ford 50
Indian Land 62, Fort Mill 30
Lancaster 60, Pageland Central 27
York 47, Chester 19
York Prep 32, Great Falls 31
Wednesday
Northwestern 58, Lancaster 56
York 32, South Point (NC) 22
Union 40, Chester 17
Chesterfield 51, Lewisville 22
Friday
Rock Hill 59, South Pointe 32
Catawba Ridge 55, Fort Mill 26
Spartanburg 43, Northwestern 40
Marvin Ridge 70, Nation Ford 31
Chester 58, Columbia 51
Andrew Jackson 51, Great Falls 16
North Central 43, Lewisville 26
Region standings
Region 4-5A (boys): 1. Northwestern 5-2, 2. Blythewood 3-2, 3. Rock Hill 4-3, 4. Spring Valley 4-4, 5. Ridge View 1-1.
Region 4-5A (girls): 1. Rock Hill 8-3, 2. Northwestern 2-2, 3. Spring Valley 4-3, 4. Ridge View 1-3, 5. Blythewood 0-5.
Region 3-5A (boys): 1. Clover 6-2, 2. Fort Mill 4-3, 3. Boiling Spring 4-3, 4. Nation Ford 2-5, 5. Gaffney 1-4.
Region 3-5A (girls): 1. Clover 4-2, 2. Gaffney 3-2, 3. Boiling Springs 2-2, 4. Nation Ford 2-6, 5. Fort Mill 1-6.
Region 3-4A (boys): 1. Lancaster 8-1, 2. Catawba Ridge 6-1, 3. Indian Land 2-2, 4. South Pointe 1-1, 5. York 1-4.
Region 3-4A (girls): 1. Catawba Ridge 6-1, 2. Indian Land 3-1, 3. York 3-1, 4. Lancaster 3-2, 4. South Pointe 3-3.
Region 4-3A (boys): 1. Keenan 2-3, 2. Mid-Carolina 2-6, 3. Chester 1-4, 4. Lower Richland 0-3, 4. Fairfield Central 0-3.
Region 4-3A (girls): 1. Keenan 5-0, 2. Fairfield Central 3-0, 3. Lower Richland 4-1, 4. Mid-Carolina 5-3, 5. Chester 1-5.
Region 4-2A (boys): 1. York Prep 4-0, 2. North Central 4-0, 3. Chesterfield 4-0, 4. Andrew Jackson 5-3, 5. Pageland Central 2-3, 6. Buford 1-2, 7. Cheraw 1-6.
Region 4-2A (girls): 1. Chesterfield 4-0, 2. Andrew Jackson 5-1, 3. York Prep 1-1, 4. Buford 1-2, 4. North Central 1-2, 6. Cheraw 1-3, 7. Pageland Central 1-4.
Region 2-1A (boys): 1. Governor’s School 2-1, 2. CA Johnson 3-3, 3. Great Falls 2-5, 4. Lewisville 1-5, 5. McBee 0-5.
Region 2-1A (girls): 1. McBee 2-2, 2. Lewisville 1-5, 3. Governor’s School 0-2, 3. CA Johnson 0-2, 4. Great Falls 0-4.
South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association rankings
These rankings were released by the SCBCA on Wednesday. Teams within The Herald’s coverage area are displayed in bold.
5A Boys: 1. Ridge View, 2. Dorman, 3. Riverside, 4. Mauldin, 5. Fort Dorchester, 6. Conway, 7. Northwestern 8. TL Hanna, 9. Goose Creek, 10. Carolina Forest.
5A Girls: 1. Dorman, 2. TL Hanna, 3. Summerville, 4. Rock Hill, 5. Lexington, 6. Cane Bay, 7. Stall, 8. Byrnes, 9. Stratford, 10. Sumter.
4A Boys: 1. South Pointe, 2. West Florence, 3. Irmo, 4. Greenville, 5. Hartsville, 6. AC Flora, 7. North Augusta, 8. Wilson, 9. Travelers Rest, 10. Dreher.
4A Girls: 1. Westside, 2. North Augusta, 3. Aiken, 4. AC Flora, 5. Airport, 6. Colleton County, 7. South Florence, 8. Westwood, 9. South Pointe, 10. North Myrtle Beach.
3A Boys: 1. Seneca, 2. Orangeburg-Wilkinson, 3. Oceanside, 4. Keenan, 5. Blue Ridge, 6. Dillon, 7. Brookland-Cayce, 8. Fox Creek, 9. Union County, 10. Berea.
3A Girls: 1. Keenan, 2. Orangeburg-Wilkinson, 3. Camden, 4. Blue Ridge, 5. Southside, 6. Emerald, 7. Wren, 8. Clinton, 9. Bishop England, 10. Daniel.
2A Boys: 1. York Prep, 2. Phillip Simmons, 3. Christ Church, 4. Wade Hampton, 5. Landrum, 6. Greer Middle College, 7. Andrew Jackson, 8. Gray Collegiate, 9. Woodland, 10. Saluda.
2A Girls: 1. Blacksburg, 2. Christ Church, 3. Silver Bluff, 4. Phillip Simmons, 5. Andrew Jackson, 6. Gray Collegiate, 7. Saluda, 8. Latta, 9. Marion, 10. Barnwell.
1A Boys: 1. Southside Christian, 2. Scott’s Branch, 3. Calhoun County, 4. Great Falls, 5. Hannah-Pamplico, 6. Carvers Bay, 7. Denmark-Olar, 8. CA Johnson, 9. CE Murray, 10. Baptist Hill.
1A Girls: 1. Military Magnet, 2. East Clarendon, 3. High Point Academy, 4. Lake View, 5. Denmark-Olar, 6. Whale Branch, 7. Southside Christian, 8. McBee, 9. Cross, 10. Lamar.
Sam Copeland contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 10, 2021 at 11:12 PM.
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