HHCA’s Ziaria Doe steps forward to be All-Area Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year

Ziaria Doe understood before the season that she’d have to shoulder more of Hilton Head Christian’s scoring load than she did for the Eagles’ state championship team the previous year. The full measure, though, wouldn’t be revealed until preseason practices began.

That’s when the Eagles learned Macy Tamminen, their other key returnee, would be lost for the year after complications arose during knee surgery. If HHCA was to make a deep run again, Doe would have to drive the train.

“I definitely had to step up in a leadership role,” Doe said, “and I think I did that.”

The senior led both with production and inspiration, averaging 24.3 points per outing while spurring the young Eagles back to the SCISA Class 2-A semifinals. Though it didn’t end in another title, it was worthy of Player of the Year selection by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.

“She has taken us places,” said Kenny Conroy, HHCA’s coach and athletic director. “Last year, we won a state championship with her driving the car. This year, the young girls turned to her and her leadership to take us as far as the semifinals.

“She’s definitely the foundation of what we’ve built our program around.”

Doe nearly averaged a double-double for the season, pulling down 9.3 rebounds per game as a changing role increased her time in the low post. She also averaged 4.2 steals, helping her score some of those points in transition.

“It was very different from last year,” said Doe, known to most everyone as simply Zi (rhymes with “my.”).

“I was always a guard, but I had to play a bigger role in the post. It was a struggle in the beginning because it was something I wasn’t used to. But I’m glad I was able to score off it and be a big help.”

With Doe and Tamminen, Conroy looked to a dynamic 1-2 scoring punch that could put the Eagles in the running for a repeat. That changed when Tamminen’s October knee surgery turned up additional damage.

“I was going from having a two-headed monster to a one-headed monster,” Conroy said. “Now teams that couldn’t focus on just one girl, because we had two, could adjust their game plans to take away our best option.”

Early on, there were nights when there really wasn’t another option. While emerging players like Jossie Frazier and Brielle McCarthy went through the learning curve, Conroy had to convince his centerpiece to be a little selfish.

“I’d have to say to her, ‘Just take the ball to the basket rather than giving the ball up. We’re going to be more successful with you going to the basket,’ ” the coach said. “Sometimes when she would make that pass I’d just hold my head, hoping it was as successful as it would have been if she had kept the ball.”

The Eagles went 22-7, as Doe became the unanimous pick as SCISA Class 2-A Region IV Player of the Year. She also was selected to the SCISA Class 2-A All-Stars to face the best from Georgia’s independent league.

The end came in a 47-42 loss to eventual champion Spartanburg Christian, when the Eagles couldn’t recover from a cold-shooting first half.

“I cried until the next day,” Doe said. “I just didn’t feel like my work was done. I just felt like I wanted to come back next year and win a state championship again. I got past it, but I know that next year we’ll have a great team to take back to states.”

Doe surpassed the 1,900-point mark for her HHCA career, averaging over 20 points and nine rebounds per game. The question now is where she goes from here — and basketball may not play a role.

Though she’s drawn interest from such schools as Jacksonville University and Alabama State, Doe also has become intrigued with the notion of an Air Force career. Her grandfather, Peter Jackson, was part of the service for nearly two decades.

“My mind’s kind of back and forth as to whether I’m going to play basketball in college, or just go to college and join the Air Force,” said Doe, who is looking at studying information systems.

“It’s (a matter of) doing something for other people, and by other people I mean my country. What can I do to serve other people and make other people happy? To me, the Air Force was kind of the best option.”

No matter what happens, she has served her HHCA teammates well.

This story was originally published March 19, 2016 at 8:01 PM with the headline "HHCA’s Ziaria Doe steps forward to be All-Area Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year."