Andrew Jackson girls fall in state championship game to powerhouse Christ Church

Andrew Jackson appeared to try everything down the stretch, but it wasn’t enough to derail a Christ Church team that’s busy building a dynasty.

The Volunteers (23-4), a remarkably young team that seemed to unearth a new level of potential with every playoff win this year, were defeated by Christ Church 59-39 Saturday afternoon at the USC Aiken Convocation Center. They fell behind by 17 in the first quarter and could never summon an adequate run to prevail against a program that’s almost always playing in March.

The win delivered Christ Church (18-4) its first state title since 2019 and its sixth since 2009.

The team from Lancaster County was playing in its first state title game since 2014 and was hoping to claim the program’s first state championship since 1983.

“All of our kids showed a lot of heart,” head coach Derek Vick told reporters postgame. “I think they were too young to know and appreciate what the stage was. They’re coming back. They’re in (the locker room) crying, and they’re hungry. They’re ready to get back after it.”

It’s hard to understate the Cavaliers’ dominance on Saturday: They started with that aforementioned 22-point first quarter— where they shot 69.2% from the field and 2-of-3 from deep — and then followed that up with a 12-point quarter where they out-rebounded the Volunteers 12-6 and led by as many as 22.

Andrew Jackson forward and leading scorer Tamia Watkins notched three fouls in the first half, but coach Vick elected to put her in with about three minutes left in the quarter to stop any excess AJ bleeding.

Christ Church entered the second half up 34-16.

The Volunteers came out with energy in the second half, forcing a few stops and even scoring the first bucket of the third quarter.

But that only awoke the Cavaliers from their brief slumber. Class 2A Player of the Year McCall King answered by hitting three straight jump shots from virtually the same spot on the left wing. Two of those jumpers were from 3.

Her junior teammate Yasmene Clark joined on the fun, too: King and Clark scored all of Christ Church’s 16 points in the third quarter — the quarter that put to rest any AJ title hopes.

King finished with 19 points and went 5-for-5 from 3. Clark finished with 15, Madeline Duwe finished with 11, and Mary Wilson Reyner finished with eight.

“It was all about heart at this point,” Christ Church Ja’Net Vicks told reporters a few moments after hoisting the state championship trophy. “The hours, the work we put in. Then it was just about coming out and playing with heart, especially the seniors because it is their last year playing.

“To be able to come out strong and finish as champions, that is what we have been harping on.”

Andrew Jackson saw five players score: Watkins finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. Ni’Yonna Asbelle finished with 10 points and four rebounds. Emiley McCall finished with nine, Annsley Vick finished with two and Harleigh Payne finished with three.

How Andrew Jackson got to Saturday

Andrew Jackson’s ascension to the state championship game wasn’t necessarily surprising.

The Volunteers were always going to be young — they started two freshmen and an eighth-grader pretty much all year — but they were nonetheless experienced: Freshman and leading scorer Tamia Watkins was a key contributor as a seventh-grader. So was freshman Emiley McCall. Eighth-grader NiYonna Asbelle played substantial minutes last year, too.

Heading into the 2021-22 season, AJ was the No. 5 team in the S.C. Coaches Preseason Poll. And it lived up to its billing throughout the season.

After losing three of its first seven games — two of those losses against 5A girls state champion Rock Hill — Andrew Jackson ripped off 15 straight wins to end the regular season and won its seventh region championship since the 2013-14 season in the process.

And that momentum carried it into the playoffs. The team beat Burke, Ridgeland-Hardeeville and Timberland by big margins. And then it came from behind to beat Silver Bluff in the 2A Lower State championship game.

And all this culminated on Saturday afternoon.

Vick said this team — his first team as a head coach — will always have a special place in his heart.

“I told them a while ago, ‘You only get one first team,’” Vick said. “I’ll remember this one forever. It was a great ride.”

This story was originally published March 5, 2022 at 1:29 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.