Bishop England girls’ hoops kick off season ranked in the Top 10

The Bishop England High School girls’ basketball team begins the season as the No. 10 team in Class AAAA in the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association’s preseason poll of Top 10 teams in the Palmetto State. 

 

Coach Paul Runey’s squad is coming off a 28-3 record and the Region 7-AA championship as they reached the Class AA Final Four before losing to Andrew Jackson. 

 

Although seven players departed from the team, the Bishop girls are the only Daniel Island team ranked in the top 10. 

 

“We have a long way to go,” coach Paul Runey said. “Yes, preseason polls are based on what you did the year before. That’s why we are (ranked) so high. We will try to earn that ranking. But we don’t have the depth this year.” 

 

All four of the Daniel Island schools had successful seasons in 2023-24. Two teams, the Philip Simmons girls and Bishop England boys have new coaches to begin the new season. 

 

Runey is the second winningest girls’ basketball coach in state history with 806 career victories entering the season. He will count on four experienced players to provide leadership and skills while the younger players gain experience. 

 

Hannah Rosato, Lisse van de Erve, Olivia Allen, and Hadley Irvine are the returners with the most experience. 

 

Allen Gethers is the new coach of the Iron Horse girls’ squad. He replaces Dustin Williams, who had been coach since the 2017-18 campaign. Williams finished with a 95-50 record, while winning three region championships. The team’s best stretch was from the 2020-21 season through 2022-23, when the team won 43 times against 12 losses. 

 

After graduating from South Carolina State University in 2011, he returned home to Timberland High School as a coach, first as an assistant for the girls’ basketball team. He then served as head coach of the Timberland girls’ team for the past eight years, posting a 77-94 record. 

 

The BE boys team didn’t have to look far for a coach to replace Bryan Grevey, who retired at the end of last season to cap a BE career that dates back to 2005. The Bishops were 19-9 in Grevey’s final campaign, which saw him gain his 200th career victory. 

Daniel Eykyn, who played and coached under Grevey will take over the BE boys’ team. 

 

Grevey served as assistant coach from 2005-2010 and varsity coach from 2011-2024. His teams qualified for playoffs 12 of the 14 seasons under his reign. 

 

Eykyn is a 2007 graduate of Bishop England, and a 2011 graduate of The Citadel where he also played basketball. 

 

Eykyn was a 1,000-point scorer, an all-state basketball selection, and was named to the North-South All-Star game during his days as a player at BE. He has been an assistant basketball coach at Bishop England for 13 years. 

 

The Iron Horses’ Garrett Campbell returns to lead the Iron Horses, who posted a 15-11 record last winter. The team has a 44-26 record the last three seasons.