Bishops need overtime to reach Lower State final

The Bishop England girls basketball team advanced to the Class AA Lower State championship for the second time in four years with a 70-63 overtime victory over Silver Bluff on Tuesday night at Father O'Brien Gymnasium.

The Bishops went to the Lower State title game in 2007 when Cole Dawley was the star of the team and Mallory Molony was a freshman.

Molony is now a senior and is arguably the best female player in the school's 95-year history. She had 25 points, nine rebounds and four assists to help the Bishops push their record to 21-3. She also had help. Mary Wyman Moore tallied 12 points, while Katelyn Grisillo and Elizabeth Works scored 11 apiece.

"Everybody I talked to said if you stop Molony, you stop Bishop England," Silver Bluff coach Robbie McKenzie said. "But I don't know if that's true. That Grisillo seemed just as good."

Grisillo is a sophomore point guard who does an excellent job of distributing the basketball or driving it to the basket. She hit 7 of 11 from the free-throw line to help the Bishops advance to Saturday's 2:30 p.m. Lower State championship game. The Bishops will play Marion, a 72-67 winner over Timberland. The game will be played at The Citadel's McAlister Field House.

"Katelyn began the season as a rookie after playing on the junior varsity team last season," Bishop England coach Paul Runey said. "She's no longer a rookie. She's an important part of this team. She was sick yesterday and had a hard time breathing tonight. But she got the job done. She played well, and so did the other girls. You don't beat a team that won 21 games if you don't have balance."

Runey admitted he didn't expect the team to get this far when the season began. Seven of the 11 players on last year's roster decided not to play this winter. "They had better things to do," Runey said.

The Bishops led most of the game. They took a 16-10 lead at the end of one quarter and led 29-23 at halftime. The Bishops were up 41-36 after three stops and led 55-49 with 55 seconds left in regulation. But the visitors forced overtime with some big 3-point goals by Khadajah Simpkins and Erin McMurray.

But Molony scored five points in OT and Grisillo hit four free throws down the stretch to give the Bishops a 15-8 advantage in the overtime.

The Bishops hit 7 of 11 from the free-throw line in overtime and 26 of 35 for the game. Silver Bluff hit 8 of 15 for the game.

Jamie Foreman led Silver Bluff with 26 points. Kaylin Foreman added 10.

Now Marion is between Bishop England and the championship game.

"It will be a championship environment," Runey said. "You're in the Final Four."

Silver Bluff (63): Jackson 4, McMurray 5, Simpkins 8, Cheek 4, Jamie Foreman 26, Mutenspaugh 6, Kaylin Foreman 10

Bishop England (70): Katelyn Grisillo 11, Breland 5, A. Corbett 4, Latorre 2, Mary Wyman Moore 12, Mallory Molony 25, Elizabeth Works 11

Records: BE 21-3, SB 21-3.