St. Joseph's girls advance to state championship game
There are two ways to look at the beginning, where Elizabeth Bannio is concerned.
St. Joseph's girls advance to state championship game There are two ways to look at the beginning, where Elizabeth Bannio is concerned. Check out this story on greenvilleonline.com: http://grnol.co/1c63yK5
Bob Castello, bcastell@greenvillenews.com Published 4:16 p.m. ET March 4, 2014
St. Joseph's senior Elizabeth Bannio (4) drives to the basket against Lamar's Terrianna McCullough during the Knights' 43-35 win Saturday in the Class A Upper State final at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. (Photo: KEN OSBURN )
The beginning of the season?
"We started out shaky," she said.
Indeed, the St. Joseph's girls basketball team lost its first six games.
As for the beginning of her high school career? That was as a freshman, and she's come full circle, because the Knights have erased the memory of those early defeats by winning 21 of their past 22 games, including Saturday's Class A Upper State final at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, a 43-35 win over Lamar.
"To be here again is incredible," Bannio said. "I'm amazed."
The Knights are back where they were when Bannio was a freshman, in the state championship game. They'll play Latta at 11 a.m. Saturday at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.
St. Joseph's beat Lamar with defense and the help of some timely 3-point shooting by freshman Maeve McNamara, who hit four and scored 13 points.
Junior guard Imani King scored 14 points, taking advantage of steals and fast breaks. Her last basket came off a steal with 4:11 remaining and gave the Knights a 39-29 lead.
King went down with a knee injury with 1:35 left to play and did not return, but she said Monday she had recovered well and would be ready to go.
That's significant, because King is at the heart of what the Knights do to overcome their most glaring shortcoming.
"We're always undersized," St. Joseph's coach Grace Franklin said. "The whole tournament we've been underzised, and I told my girls, 'Speed takes over size any time,' so we just had to keep pushing the ball, and that's what we did."
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