Wade Hampton's comeback falls short in loss to North Augusta in Upper State championship

There wasn't much to cheer about coming out of the first quarter for the Wade Hampton (20-6) girls basketball team. It was down 17-9 to North Augusta (25-3) and not much was going its way.

The Generals couldn't contain the Yellow Jackets' offense and even more concerning, no one — not even the Class AAAA South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association player of the year Quinasia Abercrombie — could get into a rhythm on offense.

But one wrinkle in the North Augusta zone defense sparked an idea at the end of the first quarter for Wade Hampton coach Eric Burrow, that gave the Generals exactly what they needed to fight back in this one.

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"We probably shot the ball better in that second quarter than we have in several games, and that's what gave us a little momentum and got us back into the ball game," Burrow said.

The play was simple, Abercrombie would start in the middle of the zone, right at the free throw line, then subtly move toward the North Augusta defender to set a screen. Just behind that action, a Wade Hampton player would use that screen to sprint from the wing, outside the three-point line, to the corner.

That's when the pass would zip her way to set up an open shot.

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At the end of the first quarter, that play accounted for one of Wade Hampton's two field goals. By the end of the second, that play had shifted the entire game on its head and Wade Hampton went on to have a 22-8 quarter, taking a lead 31-25 into the half.

One play took what looked like a wire-to-wire blowout for North Augusta and turned this game into a 12-round heavyweight matchup between two of Class AAAA's best teams.

Like the Generals, the Yellow Jackets adjusted to the adjustment and used their physicality to pick themselves up from Wade Hampton's second-quarter punch and fight back.

"In the second half, it flipped. I don't think we hit any outside shots ... it was really hard to get a basket and that felt like it was the difference in this ball game," Burrow said.

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At the end of the third, North Augusta was up 41-40 and never looked back, taking the Upper State crown after beating Wade Hampton, 58-50.

"They were killing us inside, which I knew was probably going to happen, because of how big they are," Burrow said. "We didn't have an answer on our end. Even though we hung around, we ended up making a couple mistakes in the last two or three minutes that costs us the game."

Despite the loss, Burrow is proud of his team and hopes to see them back in this position next season, especially with the return of Abercrombie for her senior season.

The Yellow Jackets, led by freshman guard Celena Grant — a South Carolina women's basketball target — with 24 points, will face Westwood (26-4) in the Class AAAA state championship game at the USC Aiken Convocation Center on Thursday.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: SC high school girls basketball: Wade Hampton falls to North Augusta