By Brackin Lambert
USCB Athletics
BLUFFTON — The era of Sand Shark basketball has officially begun, and it started in grand style as the USCB Women’s Basketball team electrified a sold-out crowd at the USCB Recreation Center with a convincing 70-47 victory over visiting Morris College.
“I couldn’t be happier for this group of girls and for this program,” head coach Sharon Versyp said. “To go out there and put together an all-around team victory, it just feels really good. Each one of our players contributed to this win. It’s all about them.”
Sophomore Mahkayla Premo led the way for the Sand Sharks with 22 points — 15 in the second half — along with four rebounds and three assists. Jada Young finished with 11 points and three rebounds, while Janiyah Heyward and Shaniya Rose posted identical lines of nine points and 14 rebounds.
Taniyah Bowman and Kay’Mar Griffin combined for 12 points and Ella Coffey, Arie’a Garrett, and Madison Self all added a bucket, putting all nine healthy Sand Sharks in the scoring column.
Rose scored the Sand Sharks’ first basket, and from there Beaufort was in control.
After the Hornets made a basket to take a one-point lead, USCB went on a 12-0 run over six minutes in the period to jump out to an 11-point lead. Morris answered with back-to-back triples to trim the lead four, and that’s the lead Beaufort held after one.
The Sand Sharks pushed the lead back to 10 midway through the second quarter following one of Premo’s three triples. Young’s jumper in the paint made it a 12-point advantage with just more than a minute remaining in the half, and Premo ended the period kissing one off the glass to make it 34-23 after 20 minutes.
USCB went on a 7-0 run to open the second half before Morris made a bucket. Following three consecutive scores from the charity stripe, Premo nailed two triples over 90 seconds giving Beaufort a 23-point lead. The Savannah native connected on two from the foul line to end the quarter.
Premo started the fourth with two layups and then Self pushed the lead to 30 with three-pointer. Ella Coffey capped the scoring in the final seconds.
USCB and Morris were to meet again Wednesday in Sumter.
