The CCES Varsity girls made major strides this year. The girls finished with a 19-7 record. They were led this year by seniors Anna Pieper, Kate Heil, Cassy Cuevas, and Maddy Gentry. Cassy Cuevas made the 1A girls’ All State team and All-
Region along with fellow senior Kate Heil and sophomore Sarah Robinson.
These girls had a few very impressive wins this year that included a 54-48 win against St. Joseph’s. The girls won their first 11 region games this year before losing to St. Joseph’s in the final game of the year, leading to a region championship game the following day. The region championship game was played against St. Joseph’s at Greenville High. The Cavaliers kept it competitive during the first half and were down 11 points at half. The girls outscored St. Joseph’s in the second half, but it was not enough to come back.
The Cavaliers entered the playoffs as a two seed and hosted Calhoun Falls Charter in the first round. Calhoun Falls Charter did not pose much of a challenge for the Cavaliers as the Cavaliers won 60-18. The girls then played McBee in the second round. The Cavaliers had to travel to McBee to play. The Cavaliers came out strong with a 2 point lead after the first quarter, but because of some questionable officiating McBee was able to make a run in the 2nd quarter. The Cavaliers were not able to recover even though they gave a valiant effort. McBee won 66-51, and they would advance to the Upper State game. Junior forward Mary Kate Carter said this about the Cavaliers season: “We all worked really hard from day one, and we’re happy with how far we came over the course of the season. It was also fun because we really bonded as a team.”
The Christ Church varsity boy’s basketball team had another stellar season. They finished their season with an overall record of 19-9 with a record-setting 18 game win streak. This win streak was the second longest in the entire state this year, only bested by Irmo. Senior Jeb Helmers was selected as a member of the All-State team as well as the All Region player of the year. He had over 1000 points in his career. He was also selected as the MVP of the North-South game, a game in which the north, led by Coach Beach, won 101 to 100.
The team ended up making it to the Upper State game. Christ Church has never made it to the state game in boy’s basketball. The last time that the team made it to the Upper State game was in 1998. The only time before that was in 1978.
This record season is even more impressive considering the team’s rough start. The team struggled at the beginning of the season when they were finding how they operated together and which offense worked best. Coach Beach attempted to put in a completely new system, but after a few games in which the team struggled, he decided to return to the original system that he has used for the past 18 years. This time of struggle left the team with a 1-8 record after the first few weeks of the season. As junior Will Carter said in an interview, “It was a rough start, but we came together as a team and turned it around after the change of systems and went far in the playoffs but unfortunately we didn’t get as far as we wanted to.” The team turned it around, and got on a roll, winning 18 straight. This led them into a record-tying season.
