By Thomas Grant Jr.
The 10th season as Lexington girls’ basketball coach opened on an historic note for Molly Goodrich.
With last Friday’s 63-39 win over Eau Claire in the She Got Next tournament at Wildcat Gymnasium, she reached 150 victories with the Lady Wildcats.
Only David Long with 156 has more victories than Goodrich, who has led the program to five region titles and a Lower State final appearance during her tenure.
“I remember it was a totally different program,” Goodrich remembered about her first season in Lexington. “We had Destinee Langford. We had Taylor Foulks. We had some really good supporting players. But the game has, even in 10 years, has changed so much. But it’s just awesome to be able to coach that many girls over the years.”
Lexington trailed 7-5 after the first quarter. It then scored 14 unanswered points in outscoring Eau Claire 16-2 in the second quarter to take a 21-9 halftime lead.
The Lady Wildcats broke the game open with 24 points in the third quarter. Izzy Saville scored eight of her 15 points in the quarter, including two of her three 3-pointers.
“There’s a lot of things (to improve on),” Goodrich said. “We’re still pretty young. But just confidence. Having confidence in themselves. Just having the ability to trust yourself to knock down threes. We definitely want to be more physical and defensive rebounding is always going to be on our radar to get better at every day.”
Sydni Anderson also scored in double figures with 10 points and Cassidy Harry finished with nine points. Destinee Tiller had a game-high 23 points and Milaysha Chisolm had 14 for the Lady Shamrocks.
Goodrich moved a win closer to Long’s record the following day. Lexington rolled past Greer 72-24 to win the Pearl Bracket of She Got Next.
GATORS WIN TIP OFF AT THE DAM
Preseason basketball opened up in dramatic fashion for the River Bluff boys.
Cooper Jones made three free throws after he was fouled with one second left to give the Gators a 65-64 win over Cross Creek (Ga.). It was the final of the Tip-Off at The Dam Thanksgiving Tournament in The Swamp.
River Bluff opened the tournament with wins over Wando (59-48) and Lakewood (71-42).
LAKE MURRAY TIPOFF
Coming off winning the Class 5A title last season, the Lexington boys looked to continue its run of success in the Lake Murray Tipoff under head coach Elliott Pope.
The Wildcats opened the tournament with a 72-50 win over South Aiken. Preseason Top Five senior Kaleb Evans had a game-high 24 points, C.J. Wood had 13 and Sam Mills finished with 11.
The next night saw Evans scored 22 points and Kyler Hazenwinkel add 10 as Lexington defeated American Leadership Academy 57-39 to reach the final.
Lexington would go against a Westwood team which won its first region title last season.
The game was tied 11-11 after one quarter when the Redhawks broke things open. This time, it was Jayden Crews who emerged as he scored 14 of his game-high 24 points in the second quarter to give Westwood a 36-20 halftime lead.
Pressuring the Wildcats’ young guards into turnovers and limiting Evans to 19 points, Westwood extended their lead to as many as 21 points. The Redhawks went on to defeat Lexington 59-44 and claim the tournament title.
HOOPS SCHEDULE
(Thursday’s Game)
White Knoll at Gilbert 6 p.m.
(Friday’s Games)
James Island at Lexington (boys) 6 p.m.
White Knoll at Lower Richland 6 p.m.
Lexington at Gilbert 6 p.m.
River Bluff at Blythewood 6 p.m.
(Saturday’s Games)
Lexington at Ridge View (girls) 9:30 a.m.
Blythewood at White Knoll 6:30 p.m.
(Tuesday’s Games)
A.C. Flora at Lexington 6 p.m.
Westwood at White Knoll 6 p.m.
Blythewood at River Bluff 6 p.m.
(Wednesday’s Game)
Gilbert at White Knoll 6 p.m.
Photos by Thomas Grant Jr.
