Jada Jones of Rock Hill girls’ basketball is The Herald’s Athlete of the Week

Jada Jones of the Rock Hill girls’ basketball team is The Herald’s Athlete of the Week.

The 5-foot-6 senior scored 20 points and notched five rebounds, four steals and three assists to lead Rock Hill to a 64-57 second-round playoff win over Woodmont in the 5A state playoffs on Feb. 19. Jones also scored 13 points to go with eight rebounds, four assists and four steals in a first-round victory over Nation Ford on Feb. 17.

The Bearcats, after a big win over JL Mann on Tuesday, are heading to their second 5A Upper State final in as many years. They play next on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Bob Jones University in Greenville, where they’ll take on Mauldin.

There were 25,465 votes cast in this week’s poll. Jones earned 13,062 votes; Caden Brandenburg of Nation Ford wrestling earned 21% of the vote; and McKenzie Evans of Northwestern girls’ basketball earned 19% of the vote.

Meet the rest of the finalists below.

Statistics and information provided below are up-to-date through Monday at noon, when this article originally ran online.

Meet the candidates

Brenden Alexander, Lancaster wrestling. The Bruin sophomore was the 4A Upper State runner-up at 152 pounds at Eastside High on Feb. 19. Alexander is 23-9 overall this season.

Caden Brandenburg, Nation Ford wrestling. The Falcon senior won the 5A Upper State title at 152 pounds in his home gym on Feb. 19. The Belmont Abbey signee is 35-9 overall this season.

Dawson Cashier, Rock Hill wrestling. The Bearcat senior won the 5A Upper State title at 170 pounds at Nation Ford on Feb. 19. Cashier was 4-0 for the weekend and is now 31-6 overall on the season.

Jaden Charles, Clover wrestling. The Blue Eagle sophomore won his second-straight 5A Upper State title — this time earning the 120-pound state crown at Nation Ford on Feb. 19. Charles is 24-11 overall this season.

Eduardo De Paz, Chester wrestling. The Cyclone standout became the first freshman in school history to win an Upper State title, winning the 106-pound championship at Chester on Feb. 19. De Paz won his championship match with a first-period pin.

McKenzie Evans, Northwestern girls’ basketball. The Trojan senior forward scored 12 points and six rebounds to lead Northwestern to a 43-38 win at Gaffney in the first round of the 5A state playoffs on Feb. 17. Evans also posted a double-double with 25 points and 13 rebounds in a 60-38 loss to Mauldin in the second round of the playoffs on Feb. 19. Evans averaged 8.8 points and 4.9 rebounds for Northwestern (17-8) this season.

Jada Jones, Rock Hill girls’ basketball.

Kyle Neibch, Fort Mill boys’ basketball. The 6-foot-2 senior scored 25 points to help Fort Mill to a 75-68 win over Byrnes in the second round of the 5A state playoffs on Feb. 19. Neibch also had 16 points in a 63-51 first-round victory over Spring Valley on Feb. 16. Neibch is averaging 16 points and five rebounds per game for Fort Mill (21-5) this season.

Ca’Darrius Sowell, Andrew Jackson boys’ basketball. The 6-foot-2 junior scored 31 points to lead Andrew Jackson to a 77-47 win over Batesburg-Leesville in the second round of the 2A state playoffs on Feb. 19. Sowell also scored 17 points, grabbed five rebounds and had six assists in a 91-29 first-round playoff victory over Eau Claire. Sowell is averaging 25.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game for an Andrew Jackson team (20-7) that has won eight straight games.

Skyla Tuthill, Catawba Ridge girls’ basketball. The 5-foot-11 freshman scored 25 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Catawba Ridge to a 64-31 win over Irmo in the first round of the 4A state playoffs on Feb. 16. She also scored 27 points to lead the Copperheads to a 68-54 victory over Easley in the second round of the playoffs on Feb. 18. Tuthill is averaging 22 points and seven rebounds for Catawba Ridge (22-2) this season.

See full results here

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 21, 2022 at 12:50 PM.

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.