The final scores meant little to the high school coaches whose teams scrimmaged the past three days in gymnasiums on the campuses of South Carolina State University and Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School.

From the perspective of the participants and SCSU women’s basketball coach Tonya Mackey’s, her fourth annual Lady Bulldog team basketball camp was a “win-win” situation for all involved. Not only did the camp provide Mackey another close glance at potential recruits, but also gave the head coaches of the 15 schools involved an opportunity to work on various skills in the offseason.

“The team camp is definitely one of those camps where teams can put everything together,” Mackey said. “(Coaches can) see where their teams are during the summer because some of these kids have not played basketball since their season ended. So this is definitely a chance for a chance to measure and see where their team is over the summer.”

The luxury of attending such a camp was unavailable for O-W head varsity coach Joshua Staley as he was hired in late August. Entering his second season with the Bruinettes, Staley hoped to use the camp to further help his players get a firmer grasp of his offensive and defensive systems.

“I want to improve our half-court execution,” he said. “I know we can score in transition. But some nights we’re going to play against teams that can play defensively, so I want to improve our half-court execution offensively.”

To that end, Staley split his varsity and junior varsity players into three separate teams coached by assistant coaches. This allowed the coaching staff to better scrutinize the fundamentals of certain players in action.

“We just want to get better every day,” he said. “Every summer workout we’ve got, every offseason workout we’re going to have once we get back in school, we’re just trying to get better so we can put ourselves in position to be successful once we get to the playoffs.”

While advancing further in the postseason is Staley’s goal, new Fairfield-Central varsity coach Kamar Lee hopes to turn around a program which won only seven games last season. Promoted from his junior varsity position with the pending departure of Shannon Stokes for Swansea, Lee called the timing of the Lady Bulldog camp a “blessing.”

“A lot of the kids played for me on the JV, but by playing here, it’s giving me a chance to see different kids’ ability level and where their skill level is,” he said.

Although his two Lady Griffin teams suffered one-sided losses to O-W Thursday afternoon at Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center, Lee said the scrimmages will prove beneficial in determining the makeup of his team next season.

“It helps us tremendously because of the simple fact that when you’re playing against each other on a consistent basis, you don’t push each other as hard,” he said. “So now, you’re playing against unfamiliar faces, so you have to bring your ’A’ game and actually showcase what you really can do. It shows me some of the kids’ versatility. It shows me their willingness to compete and things like that. It helps with my overall assessment of where we are and where we’re trying to get to.

Basketball action at S-H-M continues Wednesday when Mackey holds an individual camp which will cater to kids as young as eight, but will also accommodate athletes all the way up to rising seniors in high school. Camp participants will receive instruction in advanced basketball player development, hear daily lectures on fundamentals, offensive and defensive concepts as well as a lecture on NCAA requirements and have an opportunity to tour the campus and hear a guest speaker.

The fee is $200 for boarding campers and $150 for non-boarding campers. An application is available by visiting www.scsu.edu/athletics/womensteams/basketball or calling (803) 536-8716 or (803) 533-3921.

-- T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5547.

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