Local Notes
Clinton at Laurens
- Round II of County Championships Saturday… The Raiders and the Red Devils got together for the second time this season as the Raiders hosted the Red Devils Saturday afternoon… As a reminder, both the Raider teams took wins earlier in the season.
- Girls: Raiders 40 – Red Devils 31... The girls’ game was hard fought game in which Clinton led 8-5 after one quarter of play… The Raider fought back in the second quarter to take a 17-16 lead at the half… The Raiders outscored Red Devils 10-4 in third quarter and 13-11 in fourth to take a 40-31 win… Both teams competed to the end with the Lady Red Devils not stopping until the final horn… The Raiders were led in scoring by Zoe Young who finished with 15 points and Nyri Allen who scored 11… Bryanna Belton led the Red Devils with 9 points… Also scoring for the Raiders Ty Jones finished with 8 points, Gabby Wormley 4, and Keyoric Yeargin 2… Other Red Devils who scored included Ry’Daijia Mars and Mylayja Thompson who both scored 6 points, Kemaria Shelton 4, McKenzie Clark 2 and Nah’shia Wright 1… The Raiders improve to 11-11 on the season and the Red Devils are now 15-5.
- Boys: Laurens 63 – Red Devils 50… This boys’ game was also a hard fought contest that saw the game tied 25-25 at the half… The Raiders came out in the third quarter and outscored the Red Devils 18-9 in third and 20-16 in fourth to take a 63-50 win against a Red Devil team that does not know the meaning of the word quit… Watts led the Raiders with 24 points TyJ Jones was also in double-digits with 19… For the Red Devils, Tushawan Richardson had 25 points as he was near perfect from the free throw line and Devin Swindler was also in double –digits with 19 points… Others scoring for the Raiders included DJ Martin with 7 points, Zee Simpson 6, Trendon Brown 4, Quin Anderson 2 and RJ Brewster-Snow 1… Khari Vance had 3 points for the Red Devils, Zy Butler2 and Nyterian smith 1… The Raiders are now 16-7 overall and the Red Devils are 10-7 overall.
Clinton HS
Clinton HS
- Friday: Clinton at Columbia… Friday night the Red Devils traveled down to Columbia HS to take on the Capitals in region action.
- Girls: Red Devils 50 – Capitals 5… The Lady Red Devils took on a Lady Capitals team that is really struggling this year and held them scoreless in the first half to lead 31-0 and then with a running clock in the second half went on to a 50-5 win over the Capitals… The Red Devils played everyone on the bench and everyone scored… McKenzie Clark was they only Red Devil to score in double-digits as she finished with 10 points… Nah’Shia Wright scored 9 points, Mylayja Thompson 8, Kemaria Shelton 6, Bryanna Belton 5, Ry’Daijia Mars 2 and rounding out the Red Devils scoring Emma Patterson, Symiah Floyd, Halleigh Luke and Ja’Neshia Burton all scored 2 points… The Lady Red Devils are now 5-0 in region play.
- Boys: Red Devils 74 – Capitals 51… The Red Devil boys made it a sweep of the Capitals as they took a 74-51 win over the Capitals… They only led 50-43 going into the fourth quarter where they outscored the Capitals 24-8 to end any hope of a capitals comeback… Tushawan Richardson led the Red Devils with 21 points and Devin Swindler was also in double-digits with 18 as was Cristian Jones who finished with 12 points… Nyterian Smith scored 9 points, Zy Butler 6, Dirkus Clark 3, Jaydon Glenn 3 and Jarred Willard 2… The Red Devils improve to 4-1 in region play while the Capitals fall to 1-5 in region play
- Basketball up Next… The Red Devils are scheduled to travel to Chester tomorrow to take on the Cyclones in in region action.
Laurens HS
- Friday: Raiders Hosted Wren… Friday night the Raiders played host to the Wren Golden Hurricanes in region action.
- Girls: Raiders 50 – Wren 47… The Lady Raiders were able to get revenge for an earlier 67-36 loss at Wren as they took an exciting 50-47 win over the Lady Hurricanes… The Raiders jumped out to a 12-4 lead after 8 minutes of play and led 16-13 at the half… The Hurricanes came out hot in the third quarter and led 39-27 at its end…The Raiders Nyri Allen got hot in the final 8 minutes of play scoring 12 of her 17 points in the game and Zoe Young also scored 7 points in the quarter as the Lady Raiders came back to take a 50-47 win over the Hurricanes… Scoring for the Raiders Zoe Young finished with20 points, Nyri Allen 17 Keyoric Yeargin 10, A’Nyah McBeth 2 and Ty Jones 1… Both the Raiders and Hurricanes are 4-3 in region play and tied for third place.
- Boys: Wren 63 – Raiders 57…Early foul trouble in the first quarter set the tone for the Raiders as 3 of their starters eventually fouled out of the game and limited their involvement before that as the Raiders fell to the Hurricanes 63-57… Q. Watts led the Raiders with 24 points and Damyyo Watts was also in double digits with 14 points… TyJ Jones scored 8 points, Nigere Brown 5, Trendon Brown 3 and Zee Simpson 3… The Raiders are now 4-3 in region play and Wren is 6-1.
- Basketball up Next… The Raiders will be traveling to Westside tomorrow to take on the Rams in region action.
Wrestling
- Saturday the Raiders hosted the first and second rounds of the Class AAAA wrestling team playoffs… In the first round the Raiders defeated Lancaster 64-10 to advance to the second round… There the Raiders took a 58-20 win over AC Flora.
- After the matches I did a short video interview with Raider Coach Lawson Jordan… If you would like to see that video, click here.
- With the win the Raiders advance to the third round which will take place tonight at LDHS… The Raiders will take on the Travelers Rest Devil Dogs starting at 7:00 pm… Tickets will be $8 at the door (cash or card) and you can also buy them online by clicking here to save time… Since this is a SCHSL event, the prices are set by the SCHSL and no Century Club, District IDs, or Student Athletic Passes can be accepted only SCHSL passes will be accepted…. Please come out and support the Raiders!
Laurens Academy
- Varsity Basketball… The Laurens Academy Crusaders hosted the Greenville Tech Charter Warriors Saturday afternoon… The Warriors are a SCHSL Class AA school
- Girls: Warriors 39 – Crusaders 37… The Lady Warriors outscored the Lady Crusaders 12-6 in the first quarter but the Crusaders cut into that lead in the second quarter as they only trailed 19-6 at the half but the Warriors outscored them by 1 point in the second half as the Lady Warriors took a 39-35 win… Brooklyn Senn and Sadie Bruyere both had 8 points to lead the Crusaders in scoring… Braylee Burke finished with 7 points, Madisyn Graham 4, Taylor Gagle 3, and both Abby Howard and Brooke Abercrombie scored a single point…The Lady Crusaders are now 13-7 overall and 2-0 in region play while Greenville Tech improves 11-8.
- Boys: Warriors 40 – Crusaders 12… The news is also not good where the boys’ team is concerned as Warriors took a 40-12 win over the Crusaders… The Warriors led 17-7 at the half as the Crusaders left their shooting touch in the locker room and the Warriors outscored them 23-5 in the second half… Micah Strait led the Crusaders with 4 points while Garrett Murphy scored 3 points, Garrison Vaughn and Elijah Strait 2 each and Elijah Hornberger rounded out the Crusader scoring with 1 point… The Crusaders are now 6-14 overall and 0-2 in region play.
- Basketball up Next… The Crusaders MaxPreps schedule shows them on the road tomorrow when they travel up to Spartanburg to take on the Oakbrook Prep Knights in region action.
Thornwell
- Abbeville Panthers at Thornwell… Last Friday night the Thornwell Saints hosted the Abbeville Panthers in region action… Both the Abbeville teams are either #1 or #2 in the region coming into the games.
- Girls: Panthers 37 – Saints 34… The Lady Saints arguably played their best game of the season as they as they led the Panthers 17-3 at the end of the first quarter and 21-15 at the half… Abbeville fought back and tied the game 34-34 with about 2:51 left in the game and then hit the winning 3-point shot with about 1:27 left in the game and the Saints were not able to sink a basket after that… Aly Jeter led the Lady Saints in scoring with 21 points… No further details available… The Lady Saints fall to 5-9 overall and 4-7 in region play while the Panthers improve to 9-4 overall and 9-1 in region play.
- Boys: Panthers 78 – Saints 40… In boys’ action, the Saints fell to the region’s #2 Panthers by a score of 78-40… Sorry but I don’t have any other details on this game… The Saints are now 4-11 overall and 3-8 in the region while the Panthers improve to 13-2 overall and 10-0 in the region one game behind McCormick which is 11-0.
- Up Next in Basketball…The Saints are scheduled to travel to Ware Shoals tomorrow night in more region action. . .
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… The middle school schedule for today should be:
- Dixie at Whitmire
- Gray-Court-Owings at Laurens Middle
- Ware Shoals at Sanders
- Thornwell at Hickory Tavern
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 (1-26-25) no changes in the top 5 this week… Auburn is still #1 followed by Duke, Iowa State, Alabama and Florida… There were some changes in spots 6-10 as Houston (7) now checks in at #6 followed by Michigan State (8), Tennessee (6), Marquette (10) and Purdue (11)…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 (1-26-25) also had one change in the top 5…UCLA is still #1 followed by South Carolina, Notre Dame, Southern California and Texas (7) moved up to # 5… UConn is still #6 followed by LSU (5), Ohio State (12), TCU and Duke (14)… 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 on Sunday, 2-9-25 at 6:30 and it can be seen on Fox… More about this game as we get closer to the game.
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.