WANDO LADY WARRIORS
Anytime a high school basketball team graduates 10 seniors, including two college signees, the usual outlook for next season is either rebuilding from scratch or at least a noticeable come-down. But for Wando girls basketball head coach Jeff Emory, the upcoming season should be at least as good as last year when the team went 21-5 overall and 8-2 in Region 7 AAAAA.
“We are in position to continue to offer a strong showing this season,” Emory said. “We try to build a program, not a team. We kept 18 players on varsity a year ago with the knowledge that we were going to lose a lot of talent from last year’s group. We have eight returning veterans that have been in our program for a good amount of time.”
Players will also be moving up from last year’s 14-2 JV team.
And Emory will likely need every one of them as the Lady Warriors, from the opening tip, enter a “gauntlet and there will be no nights off” against teams such as Lucy Beckham, Bishop England, Goose Creek, Stratford, Cane Bay and defending AAAAA Division II state champion Berkeley. “Our pre-region schedule is full of AAAAA competition,” he said. “There should be a lot of close games across the span of the season.”
Returning starters include two-time All-Region senior Malaya Mazyck and sophomore Makenna Reynolds, a scorer who started every game last season.
Talented freshman guard Bella McKevitt, who started with the team in eighth grade, is already an experienced veteran. And 6-foot-3 defender Ava Rush is returning to Wando for her senior season.
All of which could add up to a glorious ending – if Emory can get them past the gauntlet. “Basketball is a long season, the grind of all grinds,” he said. “And we are excited and ready for the challenge.”
LUCY BECKHAM LADY BENGALS
Leading up to the 2025-26 basketball season for the Lucy Beckham Lady Bengals, first-season head coach Dustin Williams is already preparing his team for a trial by fire – with a crystal-clear message: winning won’t happen overnight.
“I think our region will be a heavyweight fight every night, which should make for some great girls basketball,” Williams said. “Our team will be competing in Region 7 AAAAA, where we will face several top-tier teams that demand our full attention and best performance each game.”
Teams include Wando, Goose Creek, Cane Bay, Stratford and defending state champion Berkeley High.
Rather than scheduling a few games in December with less-talented teams to get ready for region play, the Lady Bengals open with four-time state champion Military Magnet – a game Williams said will likely show what his team is made of right away. “Other non-region teams like Summerville, Ashley Ridge, Oceanside and Bishop England each made deep runs in their respective classes,” he said. “I hope these games will prepare us for region play.”
Plus, he returns only three starters from last season, in which the team went 10-13 and fell in the second round of the 5A state playoffs. Despite the heavy-loaded tough schedule and few guns to fight it, Williams is looking at the upcoming trial not with dread, but as a necessary first step to eventually succeed.
“I’m extremely excited about the upcoming season,” Williams said. “I plan to focus on establishing a strong culture of discipline, teamwork and continuous improvement. We’ve had a strong emphasis on communication and holding yourself and teammates accountable. We also want to develop all our players over time with the basic fundamentals of the game and have them all become stronger leaders on and off the court.”
OCEANSIDE COLLEGIATE ACADEMY LADY LANDSHARKS
While the OCA Landsharks boys basketball team keeps edging close to a state final, the girls team under eighth-year head coach Mandy Harrison might be even closer.
Having built the Lady Landsharks program into a winner since 2018, Harrison is not only hopeful for another strong season, but one that might finally knock down the door to multiple state finals.
“Our outlook for the 2025–26 season is extremely positive,” said Harrison, whose previous team advanced to within one game of the state final. “We’re returning three standout starters and All-Region players: Josie Hanks, Ella Hunter and Henley Hanks. These seniors will anchor our team with experienced leadership, backcourt speed and dynamic offensive presence. And over the summer, we competed against top-level talent from across the state and beyond to prepare for the upcoming season.”
Along with a few new upperclassmen, the Lady Landsharks also have a promising group of 12 incoming freshmen, the largest class in program history, and all of whom Harrison is expecting to step in immediately and play pivotal roles both in and out of Region 6 AAA for now and years to come.
“This influx of talent, combined with the energy and commitment of our passionate coaching staff, brings a new level of excitement to the program,” Harrison said. “These players are skilled, competitive and ready to battle.”
The battling starts Nov. 21 against Academic Magnet, followed by the Heathwood Hall Thanksgiving Classic, December’s Carolina Lowcountry Invitational and of course region play against the likes of Orangeburg- Wilkinson and Hanahan.
But as Harrison will tell you, while getting past region and non-region teams is always an accomplishment, the playoffs are now where her players must catch a break and push the team to a long-awaited new level.
Or as Harrison put it: “The future is bright for OCA basketball.”
BISHOP ENGLAND LADY BISHOPS
It probably won’t happen this year, but the countdown is on for Bishop England’s girls basketball head coach Paul Runey to pass the state record for all-time wins by a high school basketball coach. But you might never know it to see Runey preparing as usual for what will be his 43rd season coaching the Lady Bishops.
“We lost three starters but return two outstanding players in Hadley Irvine and Olivia Allen, both who will have to step up and lead,” said Runey, as if he were simply trying to build a first championship team. “It’s important for others to step up, and we need to stay healthy in this competitive Region 6 AAAA.”
Of course, other teams in the region might say the same thing about Bishop England. For example, entering last season, the Lady Bishops, which are technically a 2A school in terms of size, were expected to get crushed more than a few times after being realigned into a new region to play against schools twice their size – some of which are 50-100 miles away.
Instead, it was Bishop England that did most of the crushing, unexpectedly rising to the occasion to post a 23-4 overall mark, going 10-0 in region play and once again advancing to the Elite 8 of the state playoffs.
The showing not only put Runey 31 wins shy of the state record, but coming into this season, has the entire school anticipating another state title – to go along with the other six he won from 2012-19.
“Six other returning varsity players who will be called upon heavily to contribute are Anna Kate Christy, Ella Runkle, Liza Artigues, Giana Napolitano, Kinsley Watson and Hayden Seay,” Runey said. “Region competition will be strong with Beaufort, May River and Hilton Head. Outside the region, games with Wando, Lucy Beckham and out-of-state teams in the Carolina Invitational will help us gauge where we stand.”
PHILIP SIMMONS LADY IRON HORSES
For second-year girls basketball head coach Allen Gethers, the new season for his Philip Simmons Lady Iron Horses has the feel of good news, bad news. The bad news is that the team will have only two returning seniors coming off last year’s 10-15 mark and first-round playoff loss to Hampton County, in which the Lady Iron Horses scored only 28 points. The good news is that Gethers will return every player, now battle tested with a full season of experience together and a team attitude of something to prove.
“We have all returning starters back,” said Gethers, whose team will be competing in Region 6 AA. “And I’m looking for them to be big in leadership this year.”
Despite the team’s overall losing record last season, that leadership showed signs of promise as the Lady Iron Horses posted a 6-4 mark in region play.
A key concern, however, is lack of offense. The 2024- 25 team was pounded 67-19 by Goose Creek, and twice more in double digits by Wando, two of Philip Simmons’ chief non-region opponents. A further 57-17 pasting by Berkeley, and two near shutouts – 45-12 against Myrtle Beach and 47-9 by Carolina Day – made it seem as if an invisible lid was on the team’s basket.
And region play was often tougher, as they lost twice against first-place finisher Burke and twice more to second-place Timberland.
It was the team’s first losing season since 2017-18 – the school’s inaugural year of existence. But despite these outcomes, Gethers and his players got a little stronger as the season progressed and could have just as easily finished with a winning mark, as four of their mid-tolate- season losses were by three points or less.
So now that a wrenching first season is behind them, Gethers is ready to see what his new veteran team is made of since “they know what to expect coming into this year.”
By L.C. Leach III
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