Bamberg County Players to Watch

They are balling big time in Bamberg County (alliterations FTW). &nbsp; Last time I wrote here on PGH, I spotlighted five of the premier standout players from Orangeburg County. To Orangeburg’s southwest happens to be Bamberg County, which of course has no shortage of girls basketball talent itself in that area. &nbsp; After going through my notes, knowledge and research, I managed to find six from Bamberg (across all classes) that are names to be on the lookout for when the 2020-21 high school girls basketball season tips off (hopefully) in a few months. &nbsp; So…without further adieu… &nbsp; <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="185229" first="Zoe" last="Hawkins"] – F – Denmark-Olar High School</strong> – After spending time at North, Hawkins is taking her career west to Terence Jones’ team a she embarks on her junior campaign. Teamwise, North may not have had the robust success last season other teams had, but Hawkins certainly proved herself to be a bright spot as she averaged a double-double in 2019-20 while sharing team captaincy duties with one of the Eagles’ now graduated seniors. Hawkins, while listed as a forward, put up numbers that translated well to being either a four or a five. She scored 11 points per game and brought in just over 10 rebounds a contest in addition to adding a pair of blocks per contest to her output as well. She also added All-Region AAA honors last season. &nbsp; <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="175346" first="Dy’Neka" last="Roberts"] – F – Denmark-Olar High School</strong> – The old kid with the Denmark-Olar Vikings is not really that old. She is entering her sophomore season, but one would not know it based on the numbers she put as a freshman. Roberts put up 12.4 points per game and nearly 13 rebounds per game. She also proved herself as an integral piece in the Vikings’ winning puzzle as the team went 17-7 last season – its most successful rendition since 2016-17. Roberts is an effective scorer, rebounder and causes turnovers. She was also selected to the Region 3 1A All-Region Team and the 1A All-State Team. Did we mention she was a freshman last year? &nbsp; <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="175347" first="Aijalon" last="Wroten"] – PG – Denmark-Olar High School</strong> – Wroten does plenty of things wright on the basketball court. What has to be scary for future Denmark-Olar opponents is the Vikings posted this robust of a mark last year and only graduated one senior. Wroten is another standout who also garnered Region 3 1A All-Region Team honors as a freshman (along with co-captaincy duties). Wroten put up 10 points per game along with nearly six rebounds a contest in addition to nearly four steals, meaning No. 1 donning the royal blue and gold colors presents a presence on either end of the floor. Did we mention she also was a freshman last year? &nbsp; <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="175345" first="Avion" last="Walker"] – G – Denmark-Olar High School</strong> – Between Roberts, Wroten and Walker, the future is as bright as the gold on the Vikings’ uniforms (side note – we also briefly wrote about the Denmark-Olar trio for another PrepGirlsHoops South Carolina piece about Class 1A Duos and Trios). What could be arguably more impressive than her points numbers is what she has done on the boards. Last season, she grabbed 10 rebounds in a 39-34 victory over Blackville-Hilda (a team that went 14-8) and another 10 in a 42-37 win over McBee (10-7). Her defensive prowess also includes development and talent as a shot blocker and someone that collects turnovers. She also scored 20 in a game against Williston-Elko. Did we mention she was a seventh grader in 2019-20? &nbsp; <strong>Shaniya McMillan – G – Bamberg-Ehrhardt High School</strong> – Unlike schools in some other counties, Bamberg County’s talent pool is well spread out across all classes. McMillan is the first senior-to-be on this list and will be on a team that only graduated two seniors from the 2019-20 class. One of those was the leading scorer for Tom Ritaldi’s Red Raiders. McMillan was the third-leading scorer for Bamberg-Ehrhardt and her athleticism she displays on the basketball court has also translated well to other fields of competition as well – such as the track course and the softball field.  McMillan will be motivated to finish up her high school basketball career at Bamberg-Ehrhardt on an emphatic note. &nbsp; <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="171759" first="Jakiah" last="Wilson"] – C – Bamberg-Ehrhardt High School</strong> – The Red Raiders’ big two of McMillan and Wilson will be something to watch in the coming season. Some of the best big twos are those that provide both presences in the backcourt and frontcourt. For Wilson, scoring and rebounding are two elements in her game that plenty of coaches look for from fours and fives. No. 35 grabbed over eight boards and tallied seven points per game. Wilson’s signature game, arguably from last season, came very opportunistically against the Red Raiders’ county rival – Denmark-Olar when she scored 17 and brought 10 in a 39-32 victory over the Vikings a few days before Christmas. She also had another double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) in late December against Bethune-Bowman.