WOODRUFF, S.C. – The first round of the 3A women’s basketball playoffs featured a matchup between two longtime foes as the Chapman Panthers traveled down Interstate 26 and faced off against the Woodruff Wolverines.
It was a pair of captains who helped set the tone in the latter three quarters and led Chapman to a 63-52 victory over Woodruff. Over a minute and 42 second span in the opening frame, Clara Gramling knocked down her first three tries from long distance, with two of those shots aided by passes from Krislyn Wilder. The latter of Gramling’s makes from the arc resulted in a one-point Panther lead with 2:50 left in the frame. “We were excited to play this game,” Gramling exclaimed. “When we found out who we were playing, we knew that we were the better team and as long as we played our game, we were going to be okay. I decided to shoot my shots and they went in, so I chose to stick with it.” The back-and-forth battle continued into the next frame with Woodruff holding a two-possession lead. Wilder found Gramling for another triple, while Wilder was on the receiving end of an Elliot Miller dish for a three pointer that tied the game at 20. Over the last two-plus minutes of the quarter, Chapman scored six of their last eight points in the frame from the charity stripe. Following two Gramling free throws, a Wilder fastbreak layup resulted in a two-point Chapman lead. Grace McDaniel knocked down two shots from the line with 12 seconds left that gave the Panthers a three-point advantage at intermission. “Coming into this gym and playing a game is hard,” said Chapman head coach Leslie Boyd. “Woodruff is a great team and program. (Clara) stepped up in big moments early in the game and hit tough shots. That’s something she’s done her whole career, but tonight was special knowing a win depended on it.” Two quick three-pointers by Wilder off assists by Gramling and Caroline Garner quickly extended the Chapman lead to 38-29 less than a minute into the third quarter, resulting in a Wolverine timeout. Kara Twitty notched an offensive board and putback, while Wilder found Garner in stride for a layup. Adeline West hit a cutting McDaniel in stride for a driving layup, sparking an 13-2 run for the Panthers that bridged from the third into the early portion of the final frame. During the run, Garner recorded two assists, including an inbound play where she found West for a midrange jumper. “I call them my ‘littles’,” Gramling said about her younger teammates. “I love seeing my ‘littles’ get out there and have fun with it while seeing the progress from the beginning of the year until now. It makes me really excited because I see a lot of myself in them in how they’re learning and progressing.” “Elliot came in and got to the free throw line early in the game,” Boyd added. “Grace brings a lot of toughness and grit on the defensive end. Kara (Twitty) cleaned up some buckets down the stretch. Our entire bench was locked in from the time the ball went in the air. This was a team win that we can be proud of.” Gramling finished with a game-high 27 points for Chapman, along with 20 points from Wilder and six from West. Woodruff was led by Kylie Hitchcock with 14 points. Next up for the Lady Panthers is a second-round playoff game against Southside on Saturday. Further details regarding the start time were not available at publishing time for this story. Comments are closed.
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