Lady Bishops' basketball team dominating with 9-0 start to season

It’s a new season, with a new cast of characters for the Bishop England High School girls’ basketball team. But the results have pretty much remained the same for the Bishops, who won their first nine games of the 2018-19 season to take the top spot in the latest rankings of Class AAA teams by the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association.

The nine victories gave the Bishops 178 wins in their last 197 games, a remarkable .903 winning percentage.

The Lady Bishops failed to win the state title last March, but their recent success has been off the charts. The Class AAA state title in 2017 gave the Bishops their fourth straight state championship, a feat only five other High School League teams have been able to accomplish in state history.

Veteran coach Paul Runey was somewhat surprised by the Bishops’ 9-0 start. There were some early challenges with games against rival Wando and SCISA powerhouse Northwood Academy. But the Bishops topped the Warriors and went 2-0 against Northwood.

“We handled both of them,” Runey said. “We were very effective. However, in the second game against Northwood, we were all over the place. We looked like a million dollars in the first quarter, but it looked like we didn’t show up in the second quarter.”

The Bishops beat Wando 46-24 and topped Northwood 61-44 on Dec. 7. In the rematch, a week later, the Bishops posted a 59-44 victory as they withstood nine 3-point goals by the Chargers. The Bishops led 15-4 after one stop but saw their lead sliced to 23-20 at halftime. Northwood took a lead briefly in the third quarter but the Bishops settled the issue, outscoring the Chargers 24-12 in the final period.

The Bishops are off until Dec. 27 and then play in the annual Carolinas Invitational. Region 7-AAA play begins Jan. 4 with a showdown with rival Hanahan.

Runey says every team is different from the past season and this year’s squad is no exception.

“I knew, coming in, if we could stay healthy and stay out of trouble, we could be pretty good,” Runey said. “Our bread and butter is our press and getting points off turnovers in the transition. But we are leaving too many easy points out there. That could come back to haunt us in a close game.”

The Bishops are averaging 65 points per game, while allowing foes only 30. The defense has been eye-opening as far as statistics are concerned. The Bishops are averaging almost two dozen steals per game.

The Bishops have a balanced scoring attack.

Katie Brooks, selected as one of the top seniors in the state in the state coaches’ association preseason evaluations, leads the Bishops in scoring with 11.8 points per game. She is averaging 5.6 rebounds per game. Jahia Williams is averaging 11.6 points and 4.6 steals per game while Katie Cullum is averaging 11.0 points per outing.

“The key to our season is consistency,” Runey said.” If we are more consistent, we will do well.”