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With the stakes the highest they’ve ever been for the Silver Bluff girls’ basketball team, head coach Chasen Redd wasn’t going to stray from the message he’s given his team all season:

Whoever wants the game more is going to win it.

His seventh-ranked Lady Bulldogs led No. 6 Philip Simmons all day Saturday in the Class AA Lower State championship game at Lake Marion High School, and a late-game scoring surge capped a 51-40 victory that has Silver Bluff playing for a state title for the first time in program history.

“We knew they were a good team,” Redd said. “They beat the No. 2 team in the state, Marion, they knocked them off. We knew they were a great team, and we knew it was gonna be a tough game. It came down close, but we were able to get the job done.”

Senior guard Kalyn Glover showed why she was named Region 5-AA Player of the Year with 21 points and lock-down defense, and sophomore Aaliyah Lawrence was unstoppable in the paint once again and scored 20 points.

Silver Bluff’s lead was trimmed to 32-28 late in a sluggish third quarter, but Glover drilled a 3 with 10 seconds left to give the Lady Bulldogs a spark. She drained another to open the fourth quarter, restoring Silver Bluff’s lead to 10.

Additionally, she all but erased Iron Horses star guard Kennedy Rivers from the game with her relentless defense. Rivers and fellow sophomore Kylee Kellermann combined for 56 points, with Rivers scoring 36, in a come-from-behind win over Barnwell in the first round of the playoffs, and Redd knew his team would have to lock down Rivers to give themselves a chance to win.

They combined for just 23 against Silver Bluff, as they were limited to difficult jump shots throughout the game.

″(Glover) is great. The thing is, Kalyn is slept on,” Redd said. “She doesn’t have an offer yet. She’s a track star. She’s a basketball player. She has not been offered by anybody yet or even looked at. ... To me, she’s a very slept-on player. She’s a two-way player. She plays both end of the ball – defense, offense, can shoot the ball, get to the basket. I think the sky is the limit for her, and I hope punching a ticket to the state championship will get her some more calls. I really do.”

Silver Bluff opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run for a 20-7 lead, and it was clear early in the game that Philip Simmons didn’t have an answer for Lawrence.

“Nobody does. She’s only a sophomore, and she’s slept-on to me, as well,” said Redd. “She is dominant. She can handle the ball, but down low with her body and her frame she can score at will. Not only that, she averages more rebounds than anybody in our region and on our team combined. It’s crazy.”

Up next for the Lady Bulldogs is another opportunity to make even more history – and just a few miles down the road. Silver Bluff plays for the Class AA championship at noon Wednesday at the USC Aiken Convocation Center, site of this year’s South Carolina High School League basketball title games. The Lady Bulldogs will face No. 3 Saluda, a 62-56 winner Saturday over No. 4 Blacksburg in the Upper State final.

“I’m shocked. This is the first time Silver Bluff has ever played for a state championship,” Redd said. “For me to be leading them, I’m absolutely excited. Like I’ve said all year, I ain’t gonna lie, I wish I was playing but I’m not. They played, they earned it, they did it. I helped them get there, but they did it. They earned it. Absolutely, they did.”

Read the full Aiken Standard article . 

Kyle Dawson/Aiken Standard