GREELEYVILLE - Only a strong in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament will give head women's basketball coach Tonya Mackey an opportunity to end her tenure with a championship.

She can take great pride, however, in having helped another program sustain lasting success in girls' basketball. Over the past four years, C.E. Murray was among the most active and enthusiastic participants of Mackey's individual and team summer basketball camps.

Sending as many as 35-40 players annually to the SCSU campus, Lady War Eagles' head coach Darren Mazyck said the camps played a vital role in fine-tuning his B-team and junior varsity players' fundamentals.

"Individual camp helps a lot," Mazyck said at Thursday's S.C. High School League Media Day. "They get to learn different things. Sometimes, kids don't believe actually what the coach is saying is correct. But if they can go to another camp and hear the exact same thing coming from another coach that's coaching on a college level, it makes a difference. It's the same thing, but just coming from a different person."

While none of the C.E. Murray players in today's Class A final against Hunter-Kinard-Tyler participated in Mackey's individual camp this past summer, they did benefit from scrimmaging against the likes of Class 2-A finalist W.J. Keenan and Region 7-AAAA champion Orangeburg-Wilkinson during the team camps.

For the non-varsity Lady War Eagles, Mackey's individual camp is mandatory and serves as a refresher course. Each day began with the campers working on drills such as free throws, defensive positioning, 3-point shooting, dribbling and lowpost offense similar to what they go through back at home.

"I really think the kids came well organized," she said. "You could tell the kids had been taught basketball before they came. I think the biggest reason he wanted to bring the young players was because he wanted them to go against tougher talent and we have some really good talent with O-W being there, Keenan, Fairfield-Central. He wanted to see his teachings against other teams in the state. I think what we taught was something to piggyback off of what they were taught already."

What especially impressed Mackey was how involved the C.E. Murray parents were in supporting their children. She noted how family members seemingly made the daily trek from Greeleyville to the Garden City during the individual camps.

As Mackey looks to clinch her first season with a winning conference record in Daytona Beach, Fla., against Bethune-Cookman, her thoughts and prays will also be with C.E. Murray over 300 miles away.

"I would like to think that some of the things that they were able to learn in basketball game that carried over into the season and it was something that the coach was able to help apply to his teachings," Mackey said. "I'm happy for the kids and I think they'll do well. We're really pulling for them and of course really appreciate their support with camp."

-- 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. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.

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