The road to another South Carolina high school basketball state championship started before sunrise Wednesday morning at Westwood High School .

At 6 a.m., while much of Columbia was still asleep, head coach Trent Robinson had the Redhawks back on the court at "The Castle," repeating the early-morning practice tradition that helped deliver the program's first state title last season.

But the challenge ahead looks considerably different. Westwood moves from Class 5A Division II to Class 4A and must replace its two leading scorers, leaving senior guard Cylan McLeod to lead a younger, less experienced team with championship expectations.

New Classification, New Leaders

Westwood will not have an opportunity to ‘defend’ its title. The realignment completed last year by the S.C. High School League moved the Northeast Columbia school back down to Class 4A.

The Redhawks still have familiar foes in Region 4-4A like Richland Northeast, Dreher, Lugoff-Elgin and A.C. Flora.…