Nas Berry of the Nation Ford basketball team is The Herald’s Athlete of the Week

Nas Berry of the Nation Ford boys’ basketball team is The Herald’s Athlete of the Week.

The 6-foot-1 freshman averaged 11.7 points and 5.3 rebounds as Nation Ford lost to Boiling Springs, Fort Mill and Northwestern this week. His most productive showing came against Boiling Springs: He finished with 19 points and three rebounds. Berry averaged 10.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per game for Nation Ford (6-18) this season.

There were 71,767 votes cast in this week’s poll. Berry earned 37% of the vote; Alyssa Hankerson of Rock Hill girls’ basketball earned 27%; Gabe Tooper of Fort Mill finished with 23% of the vote.

View the finalists for this week’s award below.

Statistics and records published below are up-to-date through Monday, when this article first ran online.

Meet the nominees

Nas Berry, Nation Ford boys’ basketball.

McKenzie Evans, Northwestern girls’ basketball. The Trojan senior forward scored 10 points, four rebounds and two assists in a 64-37 win over Nation Ford on Feb. 8. Evans also scored 14 points, grabbed four rebounds and one steal in a 70-35 loss to Rock Hill on Feb. 11. Evans is averaging 7.9 points and 4.5 rebounds per game this season for a playoff-bound Northwestern team.

Alyssa Hankerson, Rock Hill girls’ basketball. The 5-foot-6 freshman had a season-high 28 points — including eight 3-pointers, three rebounds, three steals and two assists — to lead Rock Hill to a 70-35 win at rival Northwestern on Feb. 11. She also had 12 points, two rebounds, four assists and four steals in a 62-26 victory over Ridge View on Feb. 8. Hankerson is averaging 14.1 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.6 steals per game for a Rock Hill team (21-3) that has won 16 consecutive games this season.

Grant Lovette, Catawba Ridge boys’ basketball. The 6-foot-2 junior had 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting to go with 11 rebounds in a 73-60 win at Indian Land on Feb. 8. Lovette is averaging 13 points and six rebounds per game for Catawba Ridge (20-5) this season.

Isaac McLellan, Northwestern wrestling. The Trojan senior won the his match 14-0 at 220 pounds in his team’s 37-26 loss to Clover in the 5A state quarterfinals on Feb. 7. McLellan is 14-1 overall for Northwestern (20-2) this season.

Gabe Tooper, Fort Mill boys’ basketball. The 6-foot-4 junior score 13 points and had nine rebounds to help Fort Mill to a 62-32 win at Gaffney on Feb. 8. He also had 12 points and six rebounds in a 40-33 victory over Nation Ford on Feb. 11. Tooper is averaging 14 points and 6.6 rebounds per game for Fort Mill (19-5) this season.

Ariana Onofrio, Legion Collegiate gymnastics. The sophomore at Legion Collegiate Academy finished second in the all-around competition (floor, bars, beams) while leading her Champion Gymnastics team to victory in Georgia on Feb. 12. Onofrio, 15, practices over a dozen hours a week with Champion Gymnastics in Rock Hill and is also a stellar student. Onofrio finished third in the all-around at the state championships in Myrtle Beach last year.

Ca’Darrius Sowell, Andrew Jackson boys’ basketball. The 6-foot-2 senior scored 21 points to lead Andrew Jackson to a 66-51 win over Central Pageland on Feb. 8. Sowell also scored 36 points in an 81-40 win over North Central on Feb. 11. The next night, he scored 13 points in a 73-25 victory at North Central. Sowell is averaging 26.6 points per game for an Andrew Jackson squad (18-7) that has won six straight games.

Vote and see running results

How to nominate

Athlete of the Week awards highlight high school players with outstanding performances. The goal is to recognize all athletes — both the accomplished and the underrated/underappreciated players. If you want to suggest someone to be included in the ballot in future weeks, send an email to Jay Edwards at edwardswork23@gmail.com. Please include the athlete’s name, school, class and applicable game performance statistics. Coaches must be willing to verify information. The Herald reserves the right to remove a name from the poll at its discretion.

This story was originally published February 14, 2022 at 11:46 AM.

Alex Zietlow

The Herald

Alex Zietlow writes about sports and the ways in which they intersect with life in York, Chester and Lancaster counties for The Herald, where he has been an editor and reporter since August 2019. Zietlow has won nine S.C. Press Association awards in his career, including First Place finishes in Feature Writing, Sports Enterprise Writing and Education Beat Reporting. He also received two Top-10 awards in the 2021 APSE writing contest and was nominated for the 2022 U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Rising Star award for his coverage of the Winthrop men’s basketball team.