GREENVILLE -- Fortunately for Christ Church, the pop junior center Erin Carter felt in the second quarter was not the Cavaliers’ bubble bursting.

It was her left knee, but Carter gutted it out in the second half Saturday, scoring nine of her 15 points to lift the Cavaliers to a 50-39 victory over Hunter-Kinard-Tyler in the Class A girls Upper State championship game at the Bi-Lo Center.

Hayden Latham scored 18 points for Christ Church (24-3), which will play the Hardeeville-Estill winner for the state championship Saturday at 11 a.m. at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.

Carter, who had averaged 20 points in the Cavaliers’ first three playoff victories, went up for a rebound, was fouled and came down with an injury with 5:58 remaining in the second quarter and Christ Church trailing 13-12.

“I felt the pop. I’ve never felt anything like that before,” said Carter, who was helped from the court and taken directly to the locker room. “I couldn’t put any weight on it. I was just kind of praying that I could play, and it would be OK.”

Tory Gentry came off the bench for Christ Church and made both free throws. Two minutes later, Georgia Haas nailed a 3-pointer that gave the Cavaliers the lead for good at 19-17.

Christ Church led 23-20 at halftime, and Carter returned for the second half.

“She is such a tough kid,” Christ Church coach Sally Pielou said. “She said, ‘I can figure out how to play with this.’ Of course, that helped to motivate the team.”

“I don’t know how she did it,” said Latham. “She was hobbling all over the court. She played amazing.”

“I just had to make sure I kept the knee straight on the turns,” Carter said. “I had to make sure I used my right knee to push off.”

And she had to make sure to keep her eyes on Latham, the Cavaliers’ sophomore point guard, who seemed to find every open teammate.

“She’s an amazing passer,” Carter said. “She knows exactly where everybody is, and she can get it to you whenever, wherever.”

Latham got it inside to Carter for the Cavaliers’ first three baskets of the second half. Christ Church opened up a 10-point advantage by late in the quarter, and HKT (23-4) never got closer than six points after that.

HKT Trojans had defeated Christ Church in the Upper State final in 2006 and 2008, but the Trojans never led by more than one point on Saturday.

Shalika Smalls, the Class A Player of the Year, led the Trojans with 13 points. Melinda Brimfield scored 10 points and Shelia Jamison eight points.

CLASS A PLAYOFFS

Upper State final

CCES

Hayden Latham 5 7-8 18, Georgia Haas 3 0-0 7, Katie Thomason 1 3-4 6, Erin Carter 7 1-4 15, Tory Gentry 1 2-2 4. Totals: 17 13-18 50.

HKT

Shantavia Tyler 1 1-1 3, Shalika Smalls 5 0-0 13, Melinda Brimfield 5 0-3 10, Shelia Jamison 4 0-0 8, Talena Milhouse 1 3-5 5. Totals: 16 4-9 39.

CCES 9-14-17-10 50

HKT 10-10-14-5 39

3-pointers: CCES 3 (Latham, Haas, Thomason), HKT 3 (Smalls 3). Records: CCES 24-3, HKT 23-4.

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