Ashley girls basketball reaches 4A East final for first time in program history

***Click here to view a gallery of 27 photos from the action***

Saniya Rivers left the arena at Fayetteville State on March 3, 2018 with a bitter taste in her mouth.

As a freshman on the Laney girls basketball team, Rivers helped the team advance all the way to the 4A East final. That night, a talented Southeast Raleigh team eliminated the Buccaneers and Rivers has been eager to get back ever since.

Her teams – Laney in 2019 and Ashley in 2020 – came up one win shy each of the past two seasons, but Rivers is finally about to get a shot at redemption.

The South Carolina signee scored a game-high 43 points to lead to lead No. 1 Ashley to a 61-58 victory over No. 5 Millbrook in the third round of the 4A playoffs Saturday night.

With the win, the Screaming Eagles advanced to the East final for the first time in school history. They will host No. 6 Garner on Tuesday at a time to be announced.

“This has been what I’ve wanted for a couple years,” said Rivers, who is averaging 42 points in the playoffs. “We’re really underrated. People don’t look at this team thinking we could ever win a ring, but we’re on our way.”

Rivers got off to a blistering start. She connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to put Ashley (15-1) on top 7-3 midway through the opening quarter, but Millbrook (13-2) was able to tie the score at 12-all thanks to six points from Illinois signee Keanna Rembert.

The 6-foot-2 forward led the Wildcats with 34 points, but Ashley held her to 12 in the second half.

Rivers drained her fourth 3-pointer of the first half to put the Screaming Eagles in front 28-21 and the home team entered the locker room at halftime with a 30-27 advantage.

Millbrook grabbed a brief lead twice in the third quarter, but Ashley took the lead for good on a pair of Keyanna Stewart free throws with 25 seconds on the clock.

The advantage grew to as much as nine in the fourth quarter thanks to outstanding pressure defense. Rivers came away with a steal and converted a fast break  layup with 3:46 left to put the Screaming Eagles up 54-45.

The Wildcats finished with 18 turnovers that led to 19 points.

“We saw some other teams sit in a 2-3 zone against them, but I told our girls that wasn’t what we were going to do,” Ashley coach Adrienne Gale said. “That’s not who we are. We come out and press and put pressure on our opponents.” 

A 10-2 Millbrook run made things interesting down the stretch. After Rembert made a layup to cut the deficit to one, Ashley’s Lexi Hinson stepped up to the free throw line and converted a pair of free throws. 

Hinson finished with eight points and nine rebounds. Stewart added five points, while Brynn Little grabbed six rebounds.

“Lexi and I were talking all day, just checking in with each other to make sure we were mentally and physically ready for the game and she came out blazing,” Rivers said.

Rivers made it a two-possession game with 28.6 seconds left following a free throw, but Rembert answered with a three-point play on the other end to cut the deficit to 60-58 with 20.7 left.

A free throw from Stewart with 10.7 seconds to play gave Ashley a three-point lead. Both teams committed turnovers on their ensuing possession, but Millbrook was only able to get off a two-point field goal attempt as time expired and the shot missed long.