Local Notes
Raider Wrestling
- Raiders Headed to State Finals… Wednesday night in the main gym at LDHS the Raider wrestling team defeated the Fountain Inn Fury 43-29 in the SCHSL Class AAAA Upper State Finals to punch their ticket to the state Championship finals this Saturday… There was a large crowd of fans for both teams and the action was nonstop and exciting… The Raiders fell behind 0-6 when Keisun Robinson was pinned by his opponent in the first match of the night… The Raiders responded getting a pin of their own by Dakota McCall to tie the match 6-6… After that the Raider continued to pull ahead and the closest they could get to the Raiders was 28-23.
- To see a short video interview done with Coach Jordan after the match click here.
- To see the results for each of the weight classes in this match, click here.
- The Raiders will be heading to Columbia Saturday for a 4:00 pm match against the May River Sharks out of Bluffton, SC who are ranked #1 in the state coming into the playoffs… The match will take place at Dreher HS.
- For more information about ticketing, directions and other things you need to know before you get there, click here to go to a posing on the SCHSL website.
Clinton HS
- Red Devils Host Eau Claire… The Red Devil basketball teams hosted the Shamrocks of Eau Claire last night in region action.
- Girls: Red Devils 36 – Shamrocks 28… The Lady Red Devils ran their region record to a perfect 7-0 last night when they defeated the lady Shamrocks 36-28… The game was tied 8-8 after the first quarter of play and then the Red Devils pulled away slightly outscoring the Shamrocks in each of the last three quarters… Mylayja Thompson was the only Red Devil scoring in double-digits as she finished with 12 points… McKenzie Clark and Bryanna Belton both scored 7 points, Kemaria Shelton 6 and Nah’shia Wright 2… Eau Claire is 6-2 in the region in second place behind Clinton.
- Boys: Red Devils 52 – Shamrocks 44… The Clinton boys’ team completed the sweep of the Shamrocks las night when they took a 52-44 win…. The Red Devils led 26-18 at the half and then the two teams battled almost to a tie in the second half as the Red Devils ran their region record to 6-1 in region play which means they are in second place in the region behind 7-0 Fairfield Central who they will play next week at Fairfield Central…Cristian Jones led the Red Devils in scoring with 16 points 9 of them coming from behind the three-point line… Tushawan Richardson was also in double-digits with 10 points… Nyterian Smith and Zy Butler both scored 7 points, Owen Glenn 4, Dirkus Clark 3, Nyking Pitts 3 and J’shon Nabors 2.
- Basketball up Next… The Red Devils are scheduled to travel to Eau Claire tonight.
Laurens HS
- Basketball up Next… The Raiders will be hosting the Emerald Vikings tonight in the last games of the regular season and I believe it will be Senior Night…. We do plan on brining you those games here on Real Radio WLBG and streaming live on the internet at www.wlbg.com.
Laurens Academy
- Basketball up Next… The Crusaders MaxPreps schedule shows them hosting the Lions of Our Lady of the Rosary tonight.
- Region Tournament… The SCISA 2A Region IV Tournament will start tomorrow up at Oakbrook Prep… It is a three-team region with the Crusaders, Oakbrook Prep and Our Lady of the Rosary… The tournament will finish Monday at Laurens Academy… The Laurens Academy girls will have a bye until Monday night at 7:00 pm… The schedule for Saturday is as follows:
- Middle School Girls at 10:00 am
- Middle School Boys t 11:30
- Varsity Girls at 1:00 pm
- Varsity Boys (LA) at 2:30 pm
Thornwell
- Up Next in Basketball…The Saints are scheduled travel to Calhoun Falls Saturday
Middle School Basketball… All games start at 5:00 pm unless otherwise noted with girls’ game first followed by boys’ game… Note: coaches very often change schedule without telling me… To see the season master schedule click here… NOTE…Dixie and Thornwell do NOT have middle school girls teams this season so the 5:00 pm start will be for the boys’ game… Today marks the final day of contests according to the middle school master schedule… Games on tap for today include:
- Ware Shoals at Dixie… No scores reported to me.
- Whitmire at Thornwell… No scores reported to me
- Gray Court Owings Tigers at Hickory Tavern Panthers
- Girls: GCO 24 – HT 22… In this game the, the Panthers led 7-2 after 6 minutes of play but the Tigers came to take a 12-11 lead at the half… The Tigers led 20-15 at the start of the fourth quarter and the Panthers kept on fighting but their comeback bid fell just short… Caroline Gillespie had a game-high 16 points to lead the Tigers in coring while Addison Wilson, Koziah Smith and Sabrina Wilson each scored 2 points
- Boys: GC) 52 – HT 28… The GCO Tigers completed the sweep of the panthers as they took a 5-28 win in boys’ action… The jumped out to a 13-5 lead after one quarter of play and then continued to outscore the Panthers by at least 4 points or more in each of the reaming quarters… Dylan Abramowitz had a game-high 16 points to lead the Tigers and both Wesley Collins and Mason Lang finished with 11 points… Both Bryce Jones and Edmond McDowell scored 3 points each while Jaylin Anderson, Kash Earl, Brayden Filbin, and Preston Owns each finished with 2 points for the Tigers.
- Note… My thanks to Jerry Filbin for providing me with the GCO information throughout the season…. THANKS!
- Sanders Yellow Jackets at Laurens Middle School Tigers… These games were played in the main gym at LDHS
- Girls: Sanders 35 – LMS 34… The Lady Yellow Jackets handed the Lady Tigers their first loss of the season as they took an exciting 26-23 win over the Tigers… Sanders led 16-14 at the half as the Lady Tigers only made 6 of 20 free throw attempts in the first half… The Tigers fought back to take a 21-20 lead at the end of the third quarter but had trouble scoring and with turnovers in the fourth quarter as the Yellow Jackets came back to take the 26-23 win… Nala’ya Garrett led the Yellow Jackets with 11 points, Kemarion Cullen score 7 points, Za Boston 6 and Jasmine Jenkins 2… The Lady Tigers were led in scoring by Nizeria Jones who scored a game-high 15 points, while Jamauria Thompson scored 5 and Aijiah Crooks 2.
- Boys: Sanders 35 – LMS 34… The Sanders boys were also able to hand the LMS boys their first loss of the season as they took a 35-34 win that was even more exciting than the girls’ game… Sanders also had a small lead most of the game and led 31-26 going into the fourth quarter… Sander led by 1 point with 17.7 seconds left and the Tigers had the ball trying to work for a last shot… However, they never got to take one as they traveled and turned the ball over with about 5 seconds left in the game and that sealed their fate… Travion Robinson had 25 points to lead Sanders in scoring while also scoring for Sanders Zy Miller finished with 5 points, Marcus Miller 3 and Jay Harris 2… Wells Rhodes led the LMS Tigers in scoring with 13 points, Frankie Simpson scored 7, Quay Calhoun 5, Elijah Bryson 5, Logan Bragg 3 and Jyiheem 1… Both teams have 1 loss to each other but the LMS Tigers have 1 game left to play at Hickory Tavern Monday.
Local Sports Schedules: All schedules subject to change right up to game time.
- School District 55: To see the sports schedule for this week at LDHS, click here.
- School District 56: To see the sports schedule for this week at CHS and CMS, click here
- Laurens Academy: Click on each of the following to see their schedule: Basketball…. Also you can click on the following to see their schedule on MaxPreps: Varsity Girls and Varsity Boys.… You can also click here to see the master basketball schedule for the Crusade teams. .
- Thornwell: To see the Thornwell varsity basketball schedules and results click on one of the following: Varsity Girls, Boys… Also Master Schedule that includes middle school games click here.
- PC Sports Calendar… To see the PC athletics sports calendar, click here.
College Sports: For any game mentioned below, click on the score for more details if available.
College Basketball… In the polls the number in parenthesis (?) indicates their rank in the last poll if it is different from the present one… If there is a score given or game(s) click on it to see details on the game(s).
Men
- DI AP Poll… The latest AP Top 25 Poll (2-3-25) some changes in the top 5 this week… Auburn is still #1 followed by Duke, Alabama (4), Tennessee (8) and Houston (6)… There were some changes in spots 6-10 as Florida (7) now checks in at #6 followed by Purdue (1), Iowa State (3), Michigan State (7) and Texas A&M (13)…Clemson just missed the top 25 as they were the op team not in the top, they should be in it in my humble opinion…To see the remainder of the top 25 click here.
- DI Scores… To see the scores foe last night and also for the previous couple of days click here… You can also look ahead to the next few days to see who will be playing.
- Standings by Conference… To see the conference standings for each of the DI conferences, click here… It’s a long list so if you want to see say the SEC standings, you have to scroll down a good bit.
Women
- DI AP Poll… The latest AP Top 25 Poll (2-3-25) also had one or two changes in the top 5…UCLA is still #1 followed by South Carolina, Notre Dame, Texas (5 and UConn (6)) moved up to # 5… Spots 6-10 are occupied by LSU (7), Sothern California (4), Ohio State (12), TCU and Duke … To see the remainder of the top 25 click here.
- DI Scores… To see the scores foe last night and also for the previous couple of days click here… You can also look ahead to the next few days to see who will be playing.
- Standings by Conference… To see the conference standings for each of the DI conferences, click here… It’s a long list so if you want to see say the SEC standings, you have to scroll down a good bit.
Pro Sports: For more information on the game(s) below, click on the scores at the start of the section.
NFL
- NFL Playoffs… The NFL is now starting its playoffs and if you would like to see the complete bracket leading up to the Super Bowl click here.
- Super Bowl… That sets up the meeting between the 15-2 Chiefs and the 14-3 Eagles is this Sunday, 2-9-25 at 6:30 and it can be seen on Fox… For more information about this game, click here to go to the NFL Super Bowl LIX posting.
NASCAR
- Schedule… January is almost over and that means that the NASCR season will be starting soon… The Cup Series will start this Sunday with the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray and the multiple races at Daytona on Thursday Feb. 13th with the Daytona 500 on Sunday Feb. 16th… If you click here it will carry you to the NASCAR website where the season schedule is posted and you can look at the Cup Series. Xfinity Series or the Craftsman Truck Series by clicking on their icon at the top of the list… In addition to the date and location, it will also give you race times and TV viewing options…
This & That:
- Laurens Little League (L3)…Registration is now open for the upcoming season of Laurens Little League also known as L3… As usual, there will be a coach’s pitch age group along with Minors and Majors all three of which cover ages 7-12… The cost is $80 per player and you must register by Friday, 2-7-25… If you click here it will carry you to a posting where you can find out how to register online… If you still have questions call the City of Laurens Parks and Recreation Headquarters at The Ridge at 86-681-7275… You can also register there in person and they are located at 301 Exchange drive in Laurens.
- Youth Baseball and softball at The Clinton YMCA… Registration is now open at the Clinton YMCA for youth baseball and softball… They have 5 different age groupings for baseball and 2 for softball… Registration will close on Friday, 2-14-25… For more information about this and to register online click here… There is also a list of frequently asked questions at this website… There is also a way to drop them a message if you still have questions on that website also… If you had rather call, phone them at 864-866-1555.
If you have any comments, suggestions, or want to report scores, please contact me via email at: sports@wlbg.com or text me at 864-981-3470.
More on the way shortly
