COLUMBIA — It goes without saying that there was a lot of talent on the floor Saturday at the state championships.
But there was also a lot of Division I college talent on the floor.
Three players from the Southside-Mullins game and one from Lower Richland are going to playing on bigger stages very soon.
Southside seniors Robbie Dreher has signed with Winthrop, while teammate Quinton Thomas is committed to Wyoming.
Mullins’ star junior Eric Smith is committed to South Carolina while Lower Richland senior Morgan Stroman is headed to Miami.
Dreher finished with 13 points for Southside as did Thomas. Smith had 11 for the Auctioneers and Stroman led the bunch with 17.
The X-factor
Stepping up from junior varsity is never easy, but Marion’s Candace Wright sure made it look that way this season.
“She was our X-factor all year,” Marion coach Leon Sturkey said. “She gave us a little something extra, that other big scorer that we needed.”
She capped her first full season with the game-winning free throws Saturday in Columbia.
“It’s great, because (the school) hasn’t one a state championship in so long,” Wright said. “We played together all season and kept picking each other up. Now we’re the champions. It feels so good.”
No name recognition
Wright and Darlington coach Brian Rozzelle share a common thread other than both appearing in the state championships:
Both their names were misspelled in the championship programs.
Wright’s first name was spelled Candance, while the last letter was left off of Rozzelle’s last name.
Stroman adds another
Lower Richland coach Debbie Stroman earned her sixth state title in 17 seasons of coaching Saturday.
The Diamond Hornets also added to their streak of consecutive wins against in-state opponents, which now stands at 83.
Who needs warm-ups
Arriving late during the halftime break, the Pendleton Bulldogs did not have a shoot-around before starting the seconds half.
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