Prep highlights: Jordan has Savannah High back in familiar territory; Beach missing Hugie
Tim Jordan is back in familiar territory as the veteran Savannah High basketball coach has his team on the verge of 20 wins and headed to the playoffs.
The Blue Jackets closed out the regular season with a 62-58 non-region win over visiting New Hampstead Friday night as The High improved to 19-6 overall on the season, with an 8-2 mark in Region 3A Division I.
Savannah High has earned the No. 2 seed behind Woodville-Tompkins, who will host the region tournament, and locked in a playoff spot with a bye into the region tourney semifinals. The Blue Jackets face the winner of Bryan County/Claxton Thursday with a 5:30 p.m. tipoff set at Woodville.
The last time Savannah High reached the playoffs was in 2017, and the last time the Blue Jackets won 20 games was in 2014, when they finished with a 22-5 mark, according to Maxpreps.com.
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Jordan won his 500th career game in 2018, and sits at 547 career wins entering Thursday's game, according to records posted on Maxpreps.
"We used to take 20 wins for granted every season," said Jordan, in his 28th season leading the program. "We've had a few tough seasons recently, but this is a talented young group that has us headed in the right direction. I don't have many years left as a coach, but I'm enjoying working with this team."
Sophomore Maki Joyner continued to impress with a team-high 16 points in the win over New Hampstead. Jermaine Edwards scored 13 and Nayshawn Heyward added 12 for the Blue Jackets.
"We don't have that one senior who can take over a game right now," Jordan said. "But we're playing good team basketball. We're young -- starting four sophomores, and we made some mistakes closing this one out. We need to work on our basketball IQ, but this team has a lot of potential."
Beach boys hurt by loss of Hugie
The Beach boys basketball team is the No. 1 seed in the Region 3-3A tournament, but the Bulldogs will likely be without their top player - senior star Shamarrie Hugie, until at least the second round of the state playoffs.
Hugie hurt his wrist in a loss at Johnson on Feb, 3. Beach Coach Simon Heyward said on Friday that Hugie could be out for the season, and would be going back to the doctor in two weeks (around Feb. 24, when the second round of the state playoffs begin) to see if he would be able to play.
Johnson beat Beach 76-50, avenging a loss earlier in the season, in the game that Hugie was hurt. The Atom Smashers (21-4) are the No. 2 seed for the Region tournament and are set to face the winner of Groves/Savannah Country Day on Friday with tipoff set for 2:45 p.m. Friday at Calvary Day. Beach (21-4) will take on the winner of Calvary Day/Long County in a semifinal set for 6:30 p.m. Friday at Calvary.
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Savannah Country Day's Kenny Conroy reaches career milestone
Savannah Country Day girls basketball coach Kenny Conroy picked up his 500th career victory on Tuesday, and it was a big one as the host Hornets beat Calvary Day 70-66 in overtime.
Conroy is in his first year at Savannah Country Day, where he also serves as the school's athletic director. He has seven state championships in his career -- starting out with a pair at Bible Baptist, before adding five more, including the last four straight, at Hilton Head Christian.
Savannah Country Day improved to 21-3 overall and 14-2 in Region 3-3A play and the Hornets will be the No. 2 seed in the region tournament this week at Calvary. The Cavaliers (19-6, 15-1) are hosting the region tournament as the regular season region champs.
"It was great to get No. 500 in a close game against a team like Calvary Day," Conroy said. "The girls worked really hard and executed our game plan well."
Junior guard Stella Oelschig hit five treys among her game-high 26 points for the Hornets, and senior forward Kat Johnson had 21 points and 18 rebounds. Senior guard Julia McGoldrick also had a big game with 14 points including four 3-pointers.
Hannah Cail had 24 points, seven assists and six rebounds for Calvary. Breanna Jones had 17 points and six boards and Destini Gooddine added 14 points.
Calvary won the first meeting 69-45 on Jan. 13 as the Cavs made 13 3-pointers in the game, led by freshman Molly Smith, who drained seven of 12 on her way to a 21-point night.
"We wanted to defend the 3-pointer better, and we did a good job of that this time," Conroy said.
Calvary is the No. 1 seed and will host the Region 3-3A tournament. The Cavs have a bye into the semis and will host the winner of Long County/Beach on Friday at 4:30 p.m. SCD is the No. 2 seed and will face the winner of Liberty Co./St. Vincent's/Johnson at 1 p.m. Friday at Calvary Day.
The girls final is set to be played Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Calvary Day.
Woodville-Tompkins' Chisholm reaches 1,000 point milestone
Woodville-Tompkins guard Sanai Chisholm reached the 1,000 point milestone for her career on Tuesday in a 49-40 win over visiting Bluffton.
Chisholm had six points, five rebounds and four assists in the win. The senior is averaging 14.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 3.0 steals per game for the Wolverines (20-5, 10-0 in Region 1A, Division 1 play. Woodville is the No. 1 seed in the region tournament and the Wolverines have a bye into the semifinals. The are set to host the winner of No. 4 Claxton/No. 5 Savannah High on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Islands beats Benedictine in soccer showdown
The Islands boys soccer team improved to 5-0 on the season Thursday with an impressive 2-1 win in a Region 3-4A matchup with visiting Benedictine.
Islands didn't waste any time as the Sharks got on the board in the third minute when senior forward Caleb Swenson delivered a perfect through ball to Evan Narvaez who collected the ball in full stride before finding the right side of the net with his left foot to put Islands up 1-0.
Swenson came through again in the second half with an incredible goal. The play started on a free kick from near midfield as Swenson made a touch to Sam Dolan who knocked it back to him where he unleashed a left-footed blast from 45 yards out that got over the head of the Cadet keeper. Swenson said it was the longest goal of his career.
"This win means a lot to us because Benedictine beat us both times we played last year," said Swenson, who already has eight goals and four assists on the season. "There was a lot of hype about this game and the atomosphere was great. We knew it was going to be emotional, but we stayed focused and played great."
BC got on the scoreboard in the 79th minute when Islands was called for a hand ball in the box and Cadet senior Asher Sigmon converted the penalty kick for the Cadets (1-3, 0-1 in region).
Sophomore keeper Wilmer Martinez had another strong performance in goal with nine saves for the Sharks (5-0, 1-0).
"I was impressed with the tenacity we showed to hold on to the lead," Islands coach Justin Brantley said. "We played great defense over the last 40 minutes to come away with the win. Any victory over BC is huge for us, they are a good team."
Signing roundup
Savannah Country Day has a pair of track and field athletes who will be be competing at Brown University, an Ivy League school in Rhode Island, after they signed on Friday.
Senior John Ryan, a standout cross country runner, will be competing in cross county and track and field. Ryan finished third in the Class 3A State Cross Country meet in November with a 5K time of 17:09.04 and has a personal best at that distance of 16:08.70.
Coached by his father, David Ryan, who was an All-American runner in his college days at William & Mary, John Ryan said he is excited about moving on to college.
"I chose Brown because of the academics, the location and the running program," said Ryan, who plans to major in economics. "I like the (distance running) coach Kurt Benninger and am looking forward to going to school there."
Anna Pollak is a standout runner specializing n the 200 and 400 meter races for the Hornets. Last Spring, she was 8th in the Class A Private State Meet in the 200 meters (26.59) and 6th in the 400 meters (59.47). She said Brown's academic reputation played a big role in her college decision.
"The fact that I can grow as an athlete and a student -- that balance was important to me," said Pollak, who plans to pursue a pre-med line of studies.
Arden Watson, a star lacrosse athlete for the Hornets, signed to play with Adelphia University, a Division II program in Long Islands, N.Y.
The standout attacker racked up 52 goals last season 14 assists and 36 ground balls to earn All-Greater Savannah first-team honors.
Watson said he is looking forward to attending school and playing in New York, a hotbed of lacrosse, after finishing out his high school career with a successful season at SCD.
Benedictine's Howard signs soccer scholarship
Quincy Howard of Benedictine signed to play at Emmanuel College, a Division II program in Franklin Springs. A standout goal keeper, the 6-foot-2, 195-pounder, Howard plays for the Tormenta FC Academy in the MLS Next League.
He said playing for the club has helped him develop as a keeper.
"I've gotten a chance to work with Pablo Jara, and he has helped me a lot," Howard said. "I'm excited to take the next step and play in college."
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah High returns to winning ways under veteran coach Tim Jordan
