South Pointe girls’ basketball team has sights on title after ‘unforgettable moment’

One emotion reigned above all following South Pointe’s 63-61 loss to Riverside in the third round of this year’s Class 4A girls’ high school basketball state playoffs: disappointment.

Players and coaches were saddened by missed opportunities and the end of a promising season, and Stallions parents and fans were upset with the officiating.

The season-ending loss snapped a 24-game win streak for a South Pointe (26-3) team that spent the final month of the regular season as the top-ranked program in its class. It also ended the high school careers of all-state forward Victoria “Starr” Morris (18.3 points per game, 10.1 rebounds, 3.9 steals) and guard Jacinda Orr (3.1 points, 4.6 assists, 2.2 steals).

Stallions head coach Stephanie Butler-Graham hoped to turn the team’s exit into a teaching lesson for the returners on the team, converting the negative residual energy from that memory into a positive.

“How we ended the season is an unforgettable moment,” Butler-Graham said. “Having been able to put some things into perspective and trying to talk to the young ladies as well, I do think that sometimes when there are losses or things don’t necessarily go your way, absolutely there’s a chance to learn from it and just see some things that we could do differently.”

One of those returners is sophomore all-state forward Ja’Nyia Cunningham (17.4 points, 9.7 rebounds).

Last year’s third-round exit was not only a learning experience but also a motivational one for Cunningham, who made most of her impact near the basket. In the offseason, she hopes to expand her game to become more of a threat outside of the paint. Receiving interest from programs like Boston College, the 6-foot forward has big goals for the upcoming season.

“I’m ready to get to a state championship,” Cunningham said. “That’s just the goal around here. Everybody’s mind-set is to get to the state championship because we fell short last year, so we really want to redeem ourselves. The younger players coming up, we’ve instilled in them that ... the expectation (is) to go to the state championship and win.”

Butler-Graham said that the team will be much younger compared to last year’s senior-led squad. Many of the younger players, however, have quality experience.

Cunningham is entering her fourth season playing varsity basketball, while freshman starting point guard Kaleigh Lucas (12.6 points, 2.9 assists, 2.7 steals) is entering her third.

Freshman Ailema Land and eighth-grader Kemoni Hardy played sizable roles for South Pointe last season as well.

That experience has those players filling out larger roles for the team, setting up the Stallions for years with veteran leadership.

“I want to keep my consistency up and be more of a leader,” Lucas said. “We’ve been working hard in the weight room, getting our conditioning up. We’ve been working on our plays because we got a lot of new players in that we have to focus on.”

South Pointe also has its fair share of older players.

Senior guard Serenity Woods (10 points, 2.3 assists) led the team last season with 55 3-pointers in her first year with the Stallions. The team also expects to return junior Morgan Young, who missed last season with an injury.

Woods said that the team has been focusing on establishing chemistry on the court.

“I feel like the leadership role being put on me my second year isn’t weird,” Woods said. “I just want our team to be better and be the best they can be. ... I’ve been working a lot on coming off screens and being able to read the defense off screens and being able to hit (Cunningham) off the roll.”

South Pointe is done with its slate of offseason tournaments as Butler-Graham wants her players to spend the month of July with their summer teams.

The coach said she has seen marked improvement in players like Cunningham and Lucas and hopes to see that development continue when the team meets back up at the start of the school year.

“I just think they’re really focused on getting themselves better so they can be better for our team,” Butler-Graham said. “I feel fairly confident that all of them are all bought in to South Pointe. I just think it’s a matter of time for us and them getting that chemistry and getting confidence within themselves in their individual game. I think we’ll be right there. It’s going to be a (new region), so that’ll be a new challenge, but I’m looking forward to it.”

South Pointe remains in Region 3-4A following realignment. Region foes York and Lancaster also stayed in place. Newcomers AC Flora, Camden, Dreher, and Richland Northeast fill out the rest of the region.