The 2026-27 high school basketball season may be months away, but that is not stopping Lexington County teams from getting better. 

During the summer, teams are allowed to hold workouts, attend camps and play short scrimmages. They use this period to get in shape, tweak their systems and acclimate new players. 

“I think our summer has gone great,” Chapin girls basketball coach Terence Jones said. “We had great participation. We played a lot of tough teams, did some stuff to help this team prepare for this upcoming season. Gave the girls an opportunity to get the varsity experience.”

Chapin has been one of the most active teams this offseason. The Eagles spent the entire month of June in the gym practicing and on the road traveling. 

The team attended camps at nearby colleges, including USC Upstate, UNC Charlotte and Lander. The Eagles also participated in three events at Midlands high schools. 

Also, this year, the Eagles themselves hosted 20 teams for the inaugural Chapin Shootout. The event was a creation of Jones’ from his previous stop, and he has now brought it to Chapin. 

“Just to bring exposure to the community and the school, I decided to bring it to Chapin,” Jones said. “It was a great event. We had 20 teams. I think 10-15 colleges came out. Our girls got some exposure.  It brought a lot of exposure and attention to our school, and it's something that we're gonna try to continue to do.”

When not competing, Chapin was holding practice. 

This time is crucial for team building, especially as it will be Jones' second year in command of the Eagles. 

Chapin finished this past season (16-10) overall and (6-4) in the region for third place behind Dutch Fork and Lexington. 

Those results were promising, but the team lost a good chunk of production from last season, including its offensive engines, in Reagan Haggard and Sami Stephenson. 

“We’re going to miss Reagan and Sami,” Jones said. “But this young group is hungry. I think they're kind of buying into the coaching, and they're understanding what's going on.” 

With that year under his belt and a squad that will be there for the foreseeable future, Jones is treating this summer as his true first full summer with the team. 

“This team that I have now, we're gonna be together for the next three or four years,” he said. “This is pretty much establishing the new culture here at Chapin.”

Chapin’s upcoming group will be a lot younger and less experienced. The team may lack in size, but the girls should be faster, able to spread the floor and knock down shots better than previous teams, Jones said.

Players like Ana Joy Henry, Yosi McLean and the Wright sisters, Azauria and Amoria, have especially impressed so far. 

The next step for these girls is getting stronger to adjust to the physicality of the highest level of basketball in the state. 

“A lot of girls coming up from JV and middle school, particularly to the 5A level. You've got to be strong and you’ve got to be able to move,” Jones said. “Pretty much strength and conditioning is going to be a lot more of a focus for us.” 

High school girls basketball will not begin in South Carolina until late November. Chapin will have plenty of time to continue getting into better shape, but from what Jones has seen so far, he is confident the Eagles are in for another solid year. 

“The one thing I did learn is that they are ready to compete,” he said. “I was kind of unsure if they were going to be ready to compete or if they were going to be too nervous, but they showed up every day, and they showed up every game. We played a lot of tough teams this summer, and they competed very well, and that was very promising for me. It gave me a lot to look forward to this upcoming season.”