Local Notes
Clinton HS
- Red Devils at Eau Claire… The Red Devil basketball varsity teams traveled to Columbia Friday night to take on the Shamrocks of Eau Claire last night in region action for the second night in a row.
- Girls: Red Devils 34 – Shamrocks 31… The Lady Red Devils ran their region record to a perfect 8-0 Friday night when they defeated the Lady Shamrocks 34-31 and clinched the region championship… I have limited information on this game but I can tell you the Red Devils trailed 26-24 at the end of the third quarter… They then outscored the Shamrocks 10-5 down the stretch to take the come-from-behind win… Bryanna Belton hit a 3-point shot with about 20 seconds left to lift the Red Devils to the win… Belton finished the game with 13 points, McKenzie Clark 10, Nah’shia Wright 8, Ry’Daijia Mars 2 ad Kemaria Shelton 1.
- Boys: Red Devils 53 – Shamrocks 48… The news for the boys’ team is very similar to the girls as they also came back in the fourth quarter to take a 53-48 win… The Red Devils trailed 39-34 headed into the final 8 minutes of play where they outscored the Shamrocks 17-9 to tale the 53-48 win… Tushawan Richardson led the Red Devils in scoring with 22 points and Nyterian Smith was also in double-digits with 13 points… Zy Butler finished with 7 points, Owen Glenn 6, Dirkus Clark 3 and Kylen Calhoun 2…. The Red Devils are in second place in the region with a 7-1 region record and 13-7 overall.
- Basketball up Next… The Red Devils will be hosting the Mid-Carolina Rebels tomorrow night in their last home game of the regular season.
Laurens HS
- Raider Wrestling… The Raider wrestling team traveled down to Dreher HS Saturday to take on the May River Sharks for the SCHSL Class AAA Wrestling Championship… The Raiders wrestled well and took an early lead but the Sharks came back and won the last 5 matches to take a 36-35 win over the Raiders… I plan on having more about this tomorrow
- Raiders Basketball Host Emerald… The Laurens Raiders closed out their regular season last Friday night hosting the Emerald Vikings.
- Girls: Raiders 54 – Vikings 35… The Lady Raiders wasted little time in taking control of this game as they led 18-4 after one quarter of play and 31-12 at half and continued to outscore Vikings the rest of the way dominating the inside game… Zoe Young had a game-high 20 points to lead the Raiders while Nyri Allen finished with 11 points and Keyorick Yeargin 10… Ty Jones scored 8 points and Alayiah Carter 5… The Lady Raiders finish the season with an overall record of 12-13 and 5-5.
- Boys: Raiders 81 – Emerald 51… Boys completed the sweep of the Vikings as the boys took an 81-51 win… They jumped out to a 37-23 lead at the half and the Raiders outscored the Vikings 24-9 in the fourth quarter to insure the win.… Sorry but I do not have any scoring details on this game but if I get them I will pass them on to you later… The Raiders finish the regular season with a 19-7 record and 7-3 in region play.
- Basketball up Next… The Raiders will now wait on other region opponents to finish their season this week to find out where they will finish in the region… I can almost guarantee that both teams will be in action in the playoffs that start next week.
Laurens Academy
- Friday Basketball… The Crusader basketball teams hosted the Lions of Our Lady of the Rosary in their final regular season games of the season.
- Girls: Crusaders 40 – Lions 33… The Lady Crusaders took a 40-33 win over the Lady Lions to finish with a perfect 4-0 record in region play and 15-7 overall… The Crusaders led 23-10 at the half and then held on to take the win… Madisyn Graham scored 11 points to lead the Crusaders in scoring and Sadie Bruyere was also in double-digits with 10 points… Also scoring for the Crusaders Braylee Burke finished with 9 points, Mackenzie Runyans 4, Brooklyn Senn 3 and Abby Howard 3.
- Boys: Lions 41 – Crusaders 28… I hate to have to report that the news is not as good where the boys are concerned as Lions led 22-15 at the half and then went on to take a 41-28 win over the Crusaders… The Crusaders simply had trouble getting the shots to fall and the Lions did not… Braydon Burke was the only Crusader to score in double-digits as he scored 11 points… Garrett Murphy, Micah Strait, Tristan Bates, and Garrison Vaughn each scored 4 points and rounding out the Crusader scoring Elijah Hornberger scored 1 point.
- Middle School Results
- Girls: Lions 30 – Crusaders 10… The Lions led 14-4 at the half and went on to take the win… Lorelai Bagwell scored 4 points while both Hadley Knox & Daphne Strait score 3 each.
- Boys: Lions 45 – Crusaders 14… The scored was only 11-10 Lions at the half but they outscored the Crusaders 18-2 in route to the win… George Sherer, Elias Littleton and Wyatt Little each scored 3 points while Reid Campbell & Mason Snider scored 2 each while rounding out the scoring
- Saturday: Region Tournament… On Saturday 3 of the 4 Crusader basketball teams traveled to Oakbrook Prep to start their participation in the region tournament… The Crusader varsity girls earned a bye into the finals tonight.
- MS Girls: Oakbrook Prep 24 – Crusaders 10… No scoring details available and the Crusaders are eliminated from the tournament.
- MS Boys: Crusader Won… The Crusader middle school boys’ team defeated Oakbrook Prep but I do not know the score or any scoring details.
- Varsity Boys: Crusaders 49 – Our Lady of the Rosary 36… The Crusader varsity boys’ team took a 49-36 win over the Lions of Our Lady of the Rosary to punch their ticket to the region tournament finals today… No scoring details available.
- Basketball Today… The SCISA 2A Region IV Tournament will conclude today and the finals today are being played at Laurens Academy… The schedule is as follows:
- Middle School Girls at 4:00 pm: Oakbrook vs. Our Lady of the Rosary
- Middle School Boys at 5:30 pm: Crusaders vs. Our Lady of the Rosary
- Varsity Girls at 7:00 pm: Our Lady of the Rosary vs. Lady Crusaders
- Varsity Boys at 8:30 pm: Crusaders vs. Oakbrook Prep
Thornwell at Calhoun Falls Saturday… The Saints traveled to Calhoun Falls Charter last Saturday to take on the Blue Flashes in region action
- Boys: Saints 69 – Flashes 68… The Saints boys’ team took a one point win by a score of 69-68… Sorry no other details on this game… The Saints are 7-11 overall and 6-8 in region play.
- Girls: Flashes 64 – Saints 29… No details on the game… The Lady Saints are 5-9 in region play and 6-11 overall
- Up Next in Basketball…The Saints are scheduled host McCormick tonight.
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:
- Laurens Middle 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 (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
- Super Bowl… In case you were abducted by aliens or in a comma Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles took a dominating 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs… If you want to learn more about the game, click here.
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 Monday, 2-10-25… 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.