By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
GUYTON – Being very good in many aspects of basketball helped South Effingham’s Kay’Mar Griffin stand out in Region 2-6A.
The 5-foot-9 senior guard earned the league’s Offensive MVP in a recent voting of region coaches after stuffing her game-day stat line averages to 11.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 3.4 steals.
“(The award) is a little bittersweet,” Griffin said. “I really wanted to make the Final Four (for her team at state). I’d like to thank my teammates for giving me looks on the offensive side. We had a lot of girls on the first team and second team. We played off (the talents) of each other and that’s why we won 20 games.”
Kay’Mar, whose first name was derived from the biblical name Tamar, often displayed divine-like skills in the open court. Her drive to create fastbreaks led to many easy Mustang layups. She also had a knack for corralling errant passes and loose balls.
Her average of 7.6 rebounds a game is unusually high for a guard and she passed her career mark of 500 rebounds, a goal she had entering the season.
“Honestly, (rebounding) is about timing and the angles,” Griffin said. “I’ve been playing for so long. I don’t know, I guess it’s a talent.”
She had five double-doubles (10 or more points and rebounds) during the season and she just missed a triple-double after getting 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight steals against Evans.
She scored a season-high 22 points against Effingham County and Glynn Academy.
Griffin displayed a lot of heart by playing the last three quarters of the Mustangs’ first-round state playoff game against Lee County with a sprained ankle.
“I landed on someone’s foot. It was a bad sprain but I wanted to keep playing,” said Griffin, still wearing a boot almost two weeks later.
Early in the season, she saw some action at point guard when Elena Hairston was out. When Hairston returned, Griffin was back to multi-tasking – grabbing rebounds and gobbling up turnovers as the shooting guard.
“Coach (Alexus) Parker had us in the right positions because we had a successful season,” Griffin said.
Local Region 2-6A Basketball Honors
Girls
Offensive MVP – Kay’Mar Griffin (SEHS)
First-team – Elena Hairston (SEHS); Kyjana Jordan (ECHS).
Second-team – Zakerria Hall (SEHS), Shi’Asia House (SEHS).
Honorable mentions – Laney Dobbs (SEHS), Hayden Johanson (SEHS), Miracle Simmons (SEHS); Zahriya Curry (ECHS), Emma Reynolds (ECHS), Roneisha Goss (ECHS).
Boys
First-team – Keion Wallace (ECHS).
Second-team – Isaiah Campbell (SEHS)
Honorable mentions – Rashad Scott (ECHS), Ashley Thompson (ECHS), Timmy Brown (ECHS); Gavin Hiatt (SEHS), Justice Mydell (SEHS), Devin Hallman (SEHS), Rakeam Williams (SEHS).
