With one of their star players sidelined by injury, May River’s girls got big nights from Chynna Sneed and the Peluso sisters to claim a 44-29 road win at Hilton Head High on Tuesday and extend their winning streak to nine games.
The Sharks were without guard Gracyn Drury, who suffered a concussion during Friday’s win over Ridgeland-Hardeeville, but they got by without one of their leaders thanks to the contributions of others.
“Gracyn has a ton of energy. We were definitely missing that spark early on,” May River coach Jermaine Bigham said. “Chynna Sneed helped us score inside and Olivia Peluso made some big shots, which really sparked us.”
Miley Ray and Chyna Fields dialed in some early threes to give the Seahawks the game’s first lead. After a couple giveaways to start the night, the Sharks and Sneed countered with some buckets inside the arc.
The offense heated up as the first half ticked down, fueled by a key Emma Peluso steal, and the momentum carried over into the second half punctuated by Olivia Peluso’s three-pointer, extending the Shark lead to seven. Jordan Bigham scored to cap the 11-0 run, shifting the mojo to the visitors. Outstanding ball movement gave May River a variety of open shots and befuddled the Hilton Head defense, while the Sharks’ rebounding and tough pressure close to the hoop shut down the Seahawks from scoring.
Hilton Head never drew closer than seven the rest of the way, and a nifty three-point play by Emma Peluso early in the fourth was the backbreaker. May River finished strong in the final period on a 15-8 run.
“There was a clear improvement from our last matchup in December,” HHIHS coach Sean Rochester said. “When we do the little things well, we are a pretty tough team. It’s just finding that consistency game after game.”
Without Drury, who is second on the team in points per game, leading scorer Sneed carried the load with 12 points. Olivia Peluso was the go-to girl in the second half, draining three key triples to help the Sharks pull away from the Seahawks and finish with 11 points. Emma Peluso, who swiped her way to a few fast breaks, scored 10.
“Without Gracyn’s perimeter play Emma had to do it all on her own and she did what she could to give us some easy baskets,” Bigham said.
Hilton Head, who only dressed seven due to injuries and the flu bug, was led by Janiya Ferebee’s 10-point game. The Seahawks have now dropped three straight heading into Friday’s Senior Night showdown with Beaufort High. The contest will potentially put the winner into second place in Region 7-4A with one game remaining.
“We know what we need to do to get a home playoff game. It starts with winning on our home floor Friday night,” Rochester said.
UP NEXT
May River (13-5, 6-0) plays a region game at Battery Creek at 6 p.m. Friday.
HHIHS (11-12, 1-3) hosts Beaufort for a region game at 6 p.m. Friday.
Story by Wes Kerr
