By Bru Nimmons
Sports Editor
bnimmons@thepccourier.com

CENTRAL — With a trip to the Upper State championship on the line, the Daniel High School girls basketball team hosted South Pointe on Monday night.

Early turnovers mounted for the Lions and they were unable to stop the Stallions’ all-state tandem of Kaleigh Lucas and JaNyia Cunningham throughout the game, falling 77-52.

“Not taking care of the basketball really hurt us,” Daniel head coach Cosandar Griffin said. “When we went into halftime we were only down by 12, I thought we had a chance. It was just so hard to take care of the ball and try to guard those posts.”

The undersized Lions put an emphasis trying to stop Cunningham down low, but even with everything Daniel threw at her at the 6’1” junior she still found a way to put up 27 points, 14 rebounds and five assists.

“She’s just a dominant player,” Griffin said. “She can play small, she can play big and she just knows how to get position down low in the paint.”

With Cunningham’s gravity down low, the floor open up for Lucas as well as she scored a game-high 28 points with four made three-pointers.

“(Cunningham and Lucas) really stepped up and played,” South Pointe head coach Stephanie Butler-Graham said. “They sealed the deal for us.”

The Lions were hot to start the night with Lila Mann, Janiyah Wilson and Braelin Cumbie all hitting three-pointers to keep things tight midway through the first quarter. Cunningham proved to be too much though with 10 of her 27 points in the opening quarter.

Trailing 23-15, the Lions tried to match the Stallions with Cumbie and Shala Williams stepping up on offense. However, the South Pointe continued to get easy buckets in transition because Daniel’s 18 first half turnovers, giving the Stallions a 37-25 lead at the half.

Lucas scored eight straight to open the half for South Pointe but the Stallions were unable to pull away as Williams and Campbell Epting hit big shots for Daniel to make it a 54-40 game after three quarters.

Lucas and Chamberlain continued to roll combining for 55 total points in the contest as the Stallions put the game out of reach in the final quarter for a 77-52 win.

The loss was final game for the Lions three-member senior class of Braelin Cumbie, Madeline McAlister and Carly Webb. Griffin was effusive when talking about her senior class especially Cumbie, a four-year player who saw the Lions go from missing the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons as a freshman to winning 66 games over the next three years.

“She improved so much from freshman year to senior year,” Griffin said. “She’s basically the backbone of our program. She keeps everybody together.”

While the Lions will miss their graduating class, expectations remain high with the return three all-state players in Campbell Epting, Lila Mann and Shala Williams as Daniel returns to Class 3A next season.

“We have a great core coming back and we look forward to going back down to 3A,” Griffin said. “It’s still going to be tough with teams like Walhalla but we’re just ready to get back in the gym.”

South Pointe 77, Daniel 52

SPHS 23 14 17 23 — 77

DWD 15 10 15 12 — 52

Daniel (52) — Williams 15, Mann 14, Cumbie 13, Wilson 7, Epting 3.

South Pointe — Lucas 28, Cunningham 27, Rowan 14, Coleman 3, Phillips 2, Young 2, Hardy 1.

3-point goals — Daniel 11 (Williams 4), South Pointe 6 (Lucas 4). Rebounds — Daniel 20 (Mann 5), South Pointe 36 (Cunningham 14). Assists — Daniel 9 (Epting 3, Wilson 3), South Pointe 15 (Cunningham 5).