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District, state leaders meet after outcry over SC high school basketball game

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Parents in Rock Hill are taking to social media saying a high school girl’s basketball playoff loss was unjust and even discriminatory. School leaders met with the state high school league about the matter on Monday.

Now, parents say they are headed to Columbia on Tuesday to protest the South Carolina High School League for what they call unfair treatment at that game last week.

The Lady Stallions of South Pointe High School were number one in their region this year. They traveled to the town of Greer last week for a playoff game against Riverside High School. The team said unfair treatment and discrimination there ended their season.

“Our girls were getting hit,” parent Renada Morris said. “They were getting beat up down low, we were not getting any foul calls. If we barely breathed on the other team, they would make every single call on those girls.”

Parents also say their predominately Black team experienced racial discrimination.

“A couple of people were in the stands telling us that we didn’t belong on their side of the stand, which had no names of who was supposed to sit where,” Morris said.

They lost the game to Riverside by two points.

On Monday morning, South Pointe’s athletic director, coach, and the principal had a phone call with the South Carolina High School League, an organization that regulates school athletics in South Carolina. Parents wanted a rematch but, after that call, they were told that can’t happen.

They said they aren’t giving up.

“What we’re going to do, we’re going to stand out and picket. We want them to know how much we love our girls,” parent Lanear Barnett said.

In a statement Monday, Rock Hill Schools confirmed there was a phone call Monday with state officials about that game. “We respect the decision and game outcome at the final buzzer of all games,” their statement reads.

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