Familiarity with its opponent and an experienced team were the right combination for the Lower Richland girls basketball team Friday.

Guard Chi’Nya Isaac scored a career-high 32 points and the the Diamond Hornets shook off a slow start against region foe Darlington before blowing things open over the final two quarters in the 69-44 win in the second round of the Class 4A Lower State playoffs.

Lower Richland will host Bishop England

on Wednesday in the third round, with the winner advancing to the state semifinals in Florence .

The Diamond Hornets made it to the state semifinals two years ago and to the third round before losing to state champion Camden both years. Many of those players were part of those two past playoff runs and are hoping that experience helps them this year.

“Experience is one of the best teachers,” Lower Richland coach Aaron Lucas

said. “Two years ago in the lower state, we played against a Camden team that was phenomenal. They were building that process for five or six years and got to the point where they were knocking at the door.

“Seeing the type of talent, seeing the effort you have to play with this time of year, is starting to develop a little for us.”

Lower Richland was playing Darlington for the third time this season, winning 51-43 on Dec. 17 and 53-35 on Jan. 24 . In those two previous wins, the Diamond Hornets fell behind early. That was the case Friday as the Falcons jumped out to a 17-11 lead.

Lucas knew his team was going to respond and it did. LR closed the first half on a 19-7 run to lead 30-24. The Diamond Hornets scored 15 of the first 18 points in the third quarter to lead 45-27.

“The good and bad about how the brackets played out is that we had to play a team in our region that we have seen already,” said Lucas, the former South Carolina point guard. “… We were able to weather the storm and execute our game plan as the game went on.”

Lower Richland’s lead grew to more than 30 points and the Diamond Hornets got a big performance from Issac, the all-state selection who scored 14 of her career-high 32 points in the third quarter.

Isaac’s previous career high was 30 points against Marlboro County on Feb. 18, 2023 .

“Our goal obviously is to get to state since we obviously had the fill of going to lower state,” Isaac said.

Mikayla Foster

added 19 points while Jhnai Sumter had 10 and Taelor Hiller

had eight.

Lower Richland is 24-1 on the season, the most wins for the program since the 2013-14 season.

Girls Basketball Scores

Gray Collegiate 42, Wilson 39: Kadence Walker-Lee

scored 14 points and Raina Mayers

had 11 as the War Eagles moved on in the 4A Lower State playoffs.

Gray will travel to North Augusta in the third round Wednesday.

Mayers hit three big free throws down the stretch as the War Eagles were able to hold off the Tigers.

Westside 60, Camden 36: The Bulldogs’ bid for a third straight state title ended in the second round of the 4A playoffs.

Harmony Jefferson

led Camden with nine points and Jillian Rush

had eight.

Daniel 55, AC Flora 47: Teonna Draughn

scored 24 points and Tamira Delaney

had 10 as the Falcons lost in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs.

Boys Playoff Scores

Westwood 46, Conway 45: Demarcus Thomas

hit the game-winning free throws with less than 30 seconds left as the Redhawks rallied to advance in the Class 5A Division II Lower State playoffs.

Westwood will go to Berkeley on Wednesday in the third round.

The Redhawks trailed 45-42 with 40 seconds left before Jayden Crews

stole the ball and was fouled. Crews hit both free throws to cut the lead to 45-44.

Then, Thomas made a steal and hit both free throws and the Redhawks survived a last-second shot by the Tigers for the win.

Crews led Westwood with 12 points, AJ Veal had 10 and Thomas added nine.

Batesburg-Leesville 61, York Prep 60: Braylen Davis hit the game-winning 3-pointer with less than 10 seconds left to send the Panthers to the third round of the Class 2A Upper State playoffs.

B-L will travel to High Point Academy , which defeated Clinton 67-48 in a game that was called with 2:47 left after several fan ejections.

Ta’Maj Gilliam had 21 points to lead B-L. Davis had 17 and Naesean Stewart added 8.

Berkeley 46, Irmo 41: The Yellow Jackets finished the season 16-10, losing in the second round of the 5A Division II playoffs.

Jeremy Anderson

led the Yellow Jackets with 13 points.

Goose Creek 71, Lugoff-Elgin 49: The Demons lost on the road in the second round of the Class 5A Division II playoffs.

February 21, 2025 | State, The: Web Edition Articles (Columbia, SC)
Author/Byline: Lou Bezjak, The State | Section: high_school