COLUMBIA – The Richard Winn girls have officially punched their ticket to the state finals following a defensive masterclass on Tuesday night when they secured a 50–42 win over Holly Hill Academy in the SCISA Class 1A semifinals at Cardinal Newman School.
Head coach Joe Pitt praised his team’s poise and discipline, particularly during a high-stakes fourth quarter where the Eagles successfully implemented a delay-game strategy to burn the clock and neutralize any hope of a Holly Hill comeback.
The win was defined by patience on offense and relentless pressure on defense, as the Eagles forced a staggering 29 turnovers to keep the Raiders off-balance from start to finish.
Defensively, the Eagles played with active hands all night; while Ada Bass and Kate Baker were busy picking pockets for steals, tallying four apiece, Abby Lewis and Haylee Ann Prevatt owned the glass and disrupted passing lanes with a constant stream of deflections. Abby Lewis finished with 8 deflections and five rebounds. Prevatt had five rebounds of her own, and Ada Bass had six deflections.
On offense, the Eagles’ scoring came from deep in the roster. Abby Lewis and Bass paced the offense with 10 points each, but the depth of the Richard Winn lineup proved to be the difference-maker. Contributions from Kate Baker, Charlotte Lewis, Mary Margaret Swearingen, Haley Autry, Kalia McLean, and Harper Branham ensured that the Holly Hill defense had no room to rest.
With this win, the Eagles (12-7) are now headed to the SCISA Class 1A State Championship for a high-stakes showdown against a very familiar foe: Wardlaw Academy.
The title bout will mark the fifth time the two region rivals have met this season in what has become a season-long chess match. While Wardlaw took the first meeting on Jan. 6 in a 67-63 overtime thriller, but since then, Richard Winn has had the upper hand. The Eagles have rattled off three consecutive victories over Wardlaw, including another overtime thriller (55-47) and two hard-fought battles to claim both the region regular-season (46-36) and tournament (41-38) championships.
Wardlaw Academy (13-7 overall, 5-2 region) enters the title game on a hot streak of their own, having cruised through the postseason with a 46-25 win over Jefferson Davis in the quarterfinals and a 42-27 win over Curtis Baptist in the semis. But they now face an Eagles team that has proven time and again they know how to win when the pressure is highest.
The ultimate chapter of this season-long rivalry will be written at the Sumter Civic Center this Friday, Feb. 27. Tip-off for the state championship is set for 4:00 PM, as Richard Winn Academy looks to complete their season sweep of the Patriots and bring the state trophy back to Winnsboro.
RICHARD WINN – 40
HOLLY HILL – 42
RWA: Abby Lewis 10, Ada Bass 10, Kate Baker 7, Charlotte Lewis 6, Mary Margaret Swearingen 5, Haley Autry 5, Kalia McLean 4, Harper Branham 3.