State bound! Rock Hill rides special season to girls Class 5A championship game
Rock Hill head coach Kenny Orr untucked his shirt and walked off into the middle of the court, trying to keep his emotions in check.
Mauldin had just called a timeout with 5:23 left in the game, and his Bearcats had just gone on a huge run punctuated by a Laila Hankerson steal and fastbreak layup to push the game’s margin to 25 points. At that point it had sunk in, Orr told reporters after the game, that his team was about to deliver something Rock Hill High hadn’t seen in a long time — and he wanted to treasure it in real time.
“It was one of those surreal moments when you’re kinda like, ‘Gah-lee, is this really happening?’ “ Orr recounted to reporters postgame with a big smile. “And then I looked up at the scoreboard and noticed the point differential. And I always tell our girls that I feel that if we get a big enough lead, I don’t know anyone that can come back.”
He added: “I’ve been here 11 years. It’s our third time here, and two times we didn’t make it. I’m never the cocky guy, and I was kind of just like, ‘Can we get over this hump?’ … In that moment, the weight was off of their shoulders and mine.”
Rock Hill (25-3), the top-ranked team in South Carolina 5A girls basketball that hasn’t lost since early December, defeated Mauldin 75-51 to win the 5A Upper State championship on Saturday evening in Greenville. The Bearcats will play in their first state title game since the 1980-81 season, per South Carolina High School League records, on Thursday at 5 p.m. at USC Aiken.
That’s also where and when they’ll try to earn the program’s first state championship.
“It feels great to be at this point,” senior guard Gracie Wilson told The Herald after the game. “But I said it earlier: The job’s not done yet. We have one more. And we’re so excited to have one more week together, put in the work and get ready to bring it home.”
The Bearcats grabbed a 9-7 lead early in the first quarter and never looked back on Saturday. Jones got Rock Hill going by driving to the basket and getting to the rim at will. There was a sequence at the end of the first half where the senior point guard, at her coach’s direction, let 20 seconds run off the clock before blowing past her Mauldin defender and finishing off an easy layup to send the Bearcats into halftime with a 33-19 lead.
She then yelled to the crowd. That bucket was a statement, clearly — one that reverberated throughout the rest of the game.
“I think that anybody (on our team) can have a good game,” Jones told The Herald postgame, “and I feel like today was one game where all of our people played great games. It was about trusting each other and knowing that the person with the ball in their hands would make something happen.”
And when the Mauldin defense collapsed on Jones or went zone in the second half, the rest of the Bearcats stepped up. Region 4-5A Player of the Year Laila Hankerson finished with 20 points. Her freshman sister, Alyssa, hit four 3s en route to her 14-point night. Gracie Wilson added 14 points on four 3s, too. Makayla Street finished off two and-one layups on back-to-back possessions early in the fourth quarter to deflate the Mauldin fanbase and virtually put the game away for good.
And there were others who made game-changing plays, too.
This was one of the best team wins the Bearcats had notched this season, players said.
“We all encouraged each other,” Laila Hankerson said. “We all built each other up. Everyone was celebrating everyone’s successes. The energy was crazy. I just love playing with them.”
Said Wilson: “Once we get started, once one person starts to hit their shots, it just keeps going, you know? And when one person is playing great, we feed off each other, we all just play well together.”
The Bearcats will face Summerville on Thursday for a chance at a state championship. But at least for one moment on Saturday, as screams and smiling teenagers gathered outside their locker room and shared hugs, you could tell they were savoring Saturday’s win.
It was one that didn’t come without a heartbreaking loss in the Upper State game last year, one that didn’t come without its share of doubters and without a bull’s-eye the size of an actual Bearcat.
Saturday’s win was fitting for a special Rock Hill season — one that isn’t done yet.
“Like Coach Kenny always says, we’re here to build a legacy,” Jones said. “And I think us winning a state championship, even going to a state championship, will cement that legacy for us.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2022 at 8:45 PM.
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