Tariyah Washington provided the all-around excellence and Jordyn Claiborne provided the long range precision to help lift the Greenville Christian School girls basketball team to a commanding 65-35 victory over Union Christian (La.) on Monday in the opening day of the MAIS Class 2A South State Tournament at Greenville Christian.
The visiting Lady Lions from Farmerville, La., had no match for Washington’s complete offensive game. Washington, who led all scorers with 26 points, scored both from the inside and the outside. Sometimes she would make a layup through traffic. Other times she simply willed her way to the basket in the half court set.
“Tariyah has been a great player for us all season, and tonight she had another great performance,” Greenville Christian School coach Brother Sandifer said.
The Lady Saints (19-7) jumped out to a 19-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and kept building on that lead the entire game.
GCS built its lead in the second quarter with the help from the long-range touch of Claiborne. Claiborne buried three three-point shots in the second period to help the Lady Saints lead 34-21 at the halfway mark. Claiborne added a pair of three-pointers in the second half to finish with 17 points.
GCS senior Williette Kingdom, another leader on this year’s Lady Saints’ team, scored seven points in the game.
“Tariyah and Williette have been feeding off each other all season long,” Coach Sandifer said. “They both are exceptional basketball players, and they both have the ability to lead us in scoring on any given night.”
The victory for the Lady Saints advances them into the quarterfinals of the South State Tournament. GCS will play Sylva-Bay Academy on Wednesday at 4 p.m. All games of the tournament will be played at Greenville Christian with the boys and girls championship games scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
