GREENVILLE, S.C. – Chapman took the floor on Tuesday night with two goals – a team goal and an individual goal. They achieved both.
Clara Gramling began the evening with 990 career points and ended the night with over 1,000 as the Lady Panthers claimed a 66-42 victory in Region 3-3A play over the Carolina Trojans. Fittingly, Gramling surpassed 1,000 career points less than three minutes into the fourth quarter on a three-pointer that was set up by a pass from Krislyn Wilder, which staked the Panthers to a 53-41 lead with 5:10 remaining. The individual accolade was big, but Gramling was quick to deflect credit to those around her. “I don’t keep up with my points because I don’t want to think about it,” Gramling said. “I had no idea if it was going to be this game or another one (when it would happen). I was excited after it happened and thought, ‘Oh dang, I actually did it!’ I couldn’t have done it without Krislyn, Caroline, and all my teammates.” “It’s so exciting because you see all the hours that the students put into their craft,” Chapman head coach Leslie Boyd exclaimed. “You think about all the hours of sacrifice, about her teammates, and how she got here through great teamwork. Hats off to the team she’s playing with now and the ones she played with the past three years that really put her in the situation to step up and hit big shots.” Over a three minute stretch in the final stanza, Garner and Gramling each drained a pair of shots from the perimeter, which extended the Chapman lead out to a dozen, 62-50, with 2:20 to play. Earlier in the frame, Wilder weaved through traffic for a basket and Elliot Miller found Rylan Ivey in the lane for a close range shot and a nine point advantage at the time. “When I feel the pressure, I know that I have open teammates,” Wilder pointed out. “If I see that I have two people on me, I know that I can pass it out. I’m comfortable with everybody having the ball and taking care of it. When (defenders) start jumping on my teammates, it ends up creating shots for me.” Wilder opened the second half with consecutive triples in a minute and 12 second span, which put the Lady Panthers ahead by two. After Carolina had retaken the lead, a personal 5-0 run by Garner gave Chapman a 35-32 lead, one that they wouldn’t relinquish. “Coach Boyd told us to go out there and play (our style of) basketball,” Garner recalled. “The halftime speech was short, and it pumped us up. We were excited to start the second half and actually play how we knew that we could play. It was fun.” As for Gramling, she became the third 1,000 point scorer during Boyd’s tenure as Lady Panthers’ head coach, joining former teammates Paige Aho and Ke'Asia Anderson. “The ultimate goal in all of this was to walk out of here with the win,” said Boyd. “Those three (Gramling, Garner, and Wilder) have worked hard together, lead our team, and allow other people to step up like Rylan, Kara (Twitty), and more. We had a great night in the second half. I’m glad that Clara got her 1,000th point and the team was able to experience it with her with a win.” Wilder finished with a team-high 20 points for Chapman, along with 18 points from Garner and 16 from Gramling. The trio also combined to knock down 12 shots from long distance. Carolina was led by Trinity Mangle with 24 points. Next up for the Lady Panthers is a home contest against Spartanburg Christian Academy on Thursday, January 26th at 6 PM. BOYS – Carolina 69, Chapman 54 Early in the road matchup against the Trojans, Chapman played to a deadlock near the midway point of the frame on a pair of Colt McAllister free throws and a mid-range jumper from Hawken Smith. Carolina then used a 13-4 run over the next four-plus minutes to take a nine point lead into the second quarter. A personal 5-0 run by Shawn Cunningham pulled the Panthers within a baker’s dozen of the Trojans with just over two minutes left until the break. Harrison Bridges also knocked down a shot from close range just a few seconds prior to the halftime horn. Over a near-three minute span in the final frame, a Smith three-point play sparked a 10-0 Chapman run to make it a 59-49 contest with less than four minutes to play. During the run, Dalton Mahaffey knocked down a jumper while Cunningham also tallied a steal and fast break layup. The Trojans outscored the Panthers by five points over the final three-plus minutes to provide the final margin and secure the win. Cunningham led the Panthers with a game-high 19 points, along with 11 points from McAllister and 10 from Smith. Carolina was led by Zanterio Spurgeon with a game-high 20 points. The Panthers will return to action against SCA on Tuesday at 7:30 PM. Comments are closed.
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