Newly minted No. 1 Rock Hill girls pull away

The Rock Hill girls’ basketball team ascended into the top spot in the 4A state rankings Tuesday afternoon, before ending the day with a 52-32 win over Fort Mill.

The Bearcats’ 11th win in a row wasn’t easy – they needed a 10-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to bury the Yellow Jackets – but it did show the qualities that have moved Kenny Orr’s young team to the top of the heap.

“We’ve got three sophomores and a freshman that contribute mightily to us,” said coach Kenny Orr. “A lot of time that youthful exuberance gets a hold of them and they try to do too much or they’re not confident in their abilities when they can do a lot more. So it’s a double-edged sword.”

That may have been the case during a slow start against visiting Fort Mill on Senior Night. But the Bearcats settled down and evenutally pulled away from Brett Childers’ team.

After Greenville High lost last week, Rock Hill knew it very likely would move up to No. 1.

The Bearcats won a handful of games the season before Orr took over, and they won eight in his first campaign. It’s been a steady climb ever since, up to 18 wins last season and already 21 this time around.

“It’s a testament to what hard work does,” said Orr, who is in his fifth season as the team’s head coach. “I’ve seen both sides. We were on the other side of bad scores. It’s been a work in progress.”

“The bulls eye is on your back now,” he added. “Now everybody knows, everybody wants to see what Rock Hill is all about.”

Turning point

Rock Hill led 26-15 at halftime. Fort Mill started the third quarter hot asMeredith Christopher’s 3-pointer cut the Bearcats’ lead to six points, at 31-25, and forced Orr into a 30-second timeout. Rock Hill scored the next 10 points to put the game away.

“We had little spurts here and there that showed how good we can play,” said Orr. “But (Brett) Childers is a great coach. He does a lot of ball screens, which makes it very difficult for us because our main defense is a man defense.

Critical

Rock Hill got things cooking when it started to get some defensive steals. Those led to easy buckets, opened the game up and eventually wilted the Yellow Jackets in the fourth quarter.

“We mainly get our points off fastbreaks, sprinting down the court when we see one of our teammates get a steal,” said Rikoya Anderson. “We have that chemistry of passing it ahead and getting those two points on the board.”

“They didn’t roll over and I don’t expect no team to do that for us,” said Orr.

Star contributors

Anderson led all scorers with 15 points, while Hendrix added 11 points and a slew of assists. Her 3-point shooting stretched Fort Mill’s defense, opening up room for Anderson and Jasona Ballard inside.

Overheard

“We were really excited and then we got really nervous, because we’re like, we’ve got to keep this up,” said Hendrix, about learning her team was the new No. 1 team in the state in the 4A classification. “A little overwhelming but I’m excited.”

On deck

Rock Hill plays rival Northwestern on Thursday night; Fort Mill plays its rival, Nation Ford, on Friday.

Box score

This story was originally published February 9, 2016 at 9:08 PM with the headline "Newly minted No. 1 Rock Hill girls pull away."