Hilton Head Christian Academy girls basketball team remains undefeated in region play

Macee Tamminen poured in 25 points and Jossie Frazier added 16 as the Hilton Head Christian Academy girls basketball team remained undefeated in region play Tuesday night with a 55-30 win at Thomas Heyward Academy in Ridgeland.

The Lady Rebels stayed close in the first quarter, despite turning the ball over 12 times, but the Eagles (19-2) found their range in the second quarter to begin pulling away. The Eagles led 25-14 at halftime and extended the lead to 16 points going into the final quarter courtesy of an effective weave offense.

“I told them at halftime, we just need to slow it down, run our patterns, run our offense,” Eagles coach Kenny Conroy said. “We look for each other very well a lot. We have great chemistry in the three girls up top — and the girls that play short corner can knock some shots down, too. I think that’s what sort of wore them out.

“I think our offensive sets sort of wore them out, to where we started getting into the paint very easy and getting to the rim very easy,” he added. “And when they did collapse, we kicked it out for the short shot, that we knocked down.”

A lot of those shots that were falling came from the hand of Tamminen, who knocked down four 3-pointers and had several assists. She finished with five rebounds and five steals as well.

“She’s the best player in SCISA — 3A, 2A, 1A — there’s not a better player in it,” Conroy said. “She handles the ball, she passes the ball, she sees the floor, she plays defense, she can shoot it from 3-point, she can shoot it from the basket, she takes it to the basket, she’s shooting high percentages from the foul line. I want to have the ball in her hands as much as possible — anybody would.”

Frazier had a well-rounded game for the Eagles, too, finishing with six rebounds and five steals to go with her 16 points. Their effectiveness was more than enough to offset a down night from guard Brielle McCarthy, who only had four points and was in foul trouble.

“We have Macee, we have Brielle, we have Jossie — they’re our three offensive threats,” Conroy said. “All three of them are averaging in the high teens this year. And when one of them’s not playing well, like Brielle was tonight shooting the ball, Jossie and Macee have to step up — and they stepped up.”

Jamie Davis helped keep Thomas Heyward (20-3) close early on, scoring 10 points in the first half. She ended up with 12 points and eight rebounds. Ellie Bryan added five points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots, Alayna DeLong had eight points and Gabby Boyles had a game-high 10 rebounds.

The Lady Rebels were hindered when starting guard Haylee Wade had to leave the game after hitting her head on the floor during a first-quarter tie-up. She didn’t return to action.

“We didn’t shoot the ball as well as we could in the first half — and to their credit, they’re a good team,” Conroy said. “They’re very aggressive defensively, they have a very strong inside game and they have girls who can handle the ball. So to their credit, they put some pressure on us early, which sort of caught us off guard.”

“I don’t know if we came in a little overconfident,” he added. “We haven’t had a real challenge. But I told them it was going to be a challenge tonight.”

The Eagles continue their busy week Thursday, facing rival Hilton Head Prep, before taking on Beaufort Academy on Friday. Thomas Heyward’s girls are back in action Friday, playing at John Paul II.

This story was originally published February 7, 2017 at 9:34 PM with the headline "Hilton Head Christian Academy girls basketball team remains undefeated in region play."