Players to Watch: Orangeburg County

Aren’t you glad we’re taking a look at Orangeburg County today? &nbsp; For the next rendition of my (virtual) trip through the state of South Carolina, we are putting the spotlight on some of Orangeburg County’s best and brightest. &nbsp; Without further adieu, here are five notable girls basketball players from the Orangeburg area to keep a close watch for in the upcoming seasons. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="124099" first="Shar’dasia" last="Zeigler"] – CG – Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School</strong> – Spoiler alert: Three of the five profiled in this article all play for Orangeburg-Wilkinson, starting with Zeigler, a junior-to-be who has assumed a role as the team’s primary scorer. Bruins coach Cedrick Simpson can certainly be appreciative of how Zeigler gets the job done on both ends of the floor. Last season, she averaged over 14 points per game and also did a good job distributing the basketball – as evidenced by her 5.8 assists she put up. Zeigler also averaged nearly four steals for an Orangeburg-Wilkinson team that compiled a 21-5 record last season. Zeigler also plays for A’ja Wilson Elite on the travel circuit. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="190147" first="Asia" last="Graves"] – PG – Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School</strong> – The second of those three is Graves, of course, also another integral piece to the Bruins’ winning ways. Two from Orangeburg-Wilkinson made the Times &amp; Democrat’s Girls All-Area Basketball Team. Zeigler was the first and Graves was the other. Graves, also a junior to be, may not necessarily have the flashiest statistics, but her play on the court should let anyone know that a stat sheet can only tell so much. Graves’ high water mark came in mid-January in Orangeburg-Wilkinson’s 57-51 victory against Lake Marion when she tallied 13 points and collected five Gators turnovers. Another of the good ones for Coach Simpson’s bunch. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="190146" first="Deondra" last="Darby"] – CG – Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School</strong> – With Zeigler, Graves and Darby all having two more seasons in them, Bruins opponents will have plenty to attempt to gameplan for in 2020-21 and 2021-22. Darby, also from the Class of 2022 is another that one may overlook if someone bases an evaluation of a player solely based off of a stat sheet, but any evaluation of any player goes beyond that. Darby has been credited for her talent as a shooter, her scoring ability and a high basketball I.Q. Down the stretch of the season, she had a couple of games where she put in double-digit point outputs, including in early February when the Bruins defeated a Dreher team that went 15-8 last year. Darby had 12 points that game. <strong>Azaria Horton – G – North High School</strong> – With a number of seniors having graduated from last year’s team, including one of its co-captains, this presents a dilemma for coach Jacob Moorer for who will fill their shoes. Horton could be one of those that does just that. And she has displayed that she is more than capable of doing that. Horton averaged over 7 points per game last year and displayed she can be a potent scorer – as was the case when she tallied 20 against Williston-Elko. She is poised for a breakout 2020-21. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="172191" first="Campbell" last="Delaney"] – SF – Orangeburg Prep</strong> – The area’s newspaper of record, the T&amp;D, gave Orangeburg Prep plenty of recognition on this year’s Girls All-Area Basketball Team. Three from the school, including Delaney made the team – and for good reason. She is a consistent scorer who should not be overlooked simply for playing in an SCISA school. In addition, she put up the numbers she did as a freshman. She dropped 24 in an Orangeburg Prep 41-29 win over Pinewood Prep in early January and 27 in a 48-38 win over Trinity Byrnes in mid-February. If what we have seen from her lately is an indication, she is simply getting started.