Unbeaten South Pointe girls’ basketball chases first South Carolina state championship
A new season begins this week for South Pointe girls’ basketball.
The Stallions enter the South Carolina 4A high school state tournament as the bracket’s top seed after finishing their regular season undefeated.
At 26-0, South Pointe remains the highest-ranked unbeaten team in the Palmetto State. The Rock Hill high school opens the SCHSL playoffs at 6 p.m. Tuesday against Bluffton, looking to close out the season with five more victories and win its first state championship in school history.
“They’re really a unique group in that the majority of our team is young, and our seniors show leadership through their actions on the floor,” South Pointe head coach Stephanie Butler-Graham said. “In games, in practices, they’re going hard. They’re trying to do things we’re asking them to do.
“It’s nothing that they’re saying — and if they are, we don’t hear it — but with our senior leadership, it’s been more actions in games than anything else.”
‘They’re really just calm and go to their own beat’
Butler-Graham came into practice late from a meeting last Wednesday, and the players were already at work.
Throughout the season, she’s noticed the Stallions taking initiative and putting in extra hours on the floor. As most of them have been teammates since third grade, this group has strong chemistry among each other and leads themselves by example.
Freshman point guard Kaleigh Lucas, among several South Pointe players who have already reached the 1,000-point milestone, leads the team with 19.8 points, 3.9 assists and 4.7 blocks per game, along with a 72% free throw shooting percentage. Sophomore Janiya Cunningham boasts 19.1 points per game of her own, along with 253 rebounds and 12 blocks, while senior Serenity Woods also averages double-digit scoring.
“The (players) were in a full sweat,” Butler-Graham recalled. “I don’t know if I’d seen them be like that. They were real intense, we had a real intense practice. Just reminding them to stay focused, locked in and play for each other. They’ve been unwavering all year, they’re really just calm and go to their own beat.
“They’ve got great chemistry with each other on and off the floor. There isn’t a lot that we say, but those meticulous things that I’m saying them, I see it. We talk about it in practice, they’ll demonstrate it, but I do see the carryover.”
South Pointe is motivated to continue making history
There’s a strong culture at South Pointe, which reached the state title game in both 2019 and 2020 and lost to North Augusta.
Winners of 50 of its past 51 games dating back to last season, the Stallions’ previous campaign ended after dropping a two-point game in the third round of the playoffs that was marred by officiating down the stretch.
They’ve remembered that lone loss.
Not only is South Pointe unbeaten again, but it has been doubling its opponents’ point totals on average this season. The Stallions put up an average of 69.4 points per game, while allowing just 34.5 points per game.
Its perfect start has been filled with dominance, but there’s more history to be made.
“They already are historic right now in that there has not been a team that’s been 26-0 going into the playoffs,” Butler-Graham said. “To be undefeated at this point in the season, that’s a big deal for them.
“But again, there are five more games until the championship. And that’s what we are focused on at this point.”
