Local Notes
SCHSL Basketball Brackets… If you would like to see all the brackets for the South Carolina High School League for all the classifications both boys and girls, click here…. NOTE… For all SCHSL playoff games, the tickets will cost $8 each and anyone over the age of two must have a ticket to enter… The only passes that will be accepted are SCHSL passes… No school issued passes of any type will be accepted.
Clinton HS
- Up Next for Lady Red Devils… Tomorrow night at 6:00 pm the Red Devils will be hosting region foe Fairfield Central in the third round of the SCHSL Class AA Girls Playoffs.
- Boys Basketball: High Point 67– Clinton 48… The Red Devils will be traveled up to High Point Academy last Friday night and all I have is the final scorer of the game… The Grizzlies ended the Red Devils season by taking a 67-48 win over the Red Devils… I hope to get scoring details for the Red Devils today and if I do I will bring them to you tomorrow… The Red Devils finish the season with a very respectful 15-9 record having finished second in the region behind Fairfield Central with an 8-2 region record… By the way, Fairfield Central was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs when they fell to Liberty by a score of 43-41… None of the teams in Clinton’s region survived the first round other than the Red Devils.
Laurens HS
- Five Raider Wrestlers Finish in Top Four of State Individual Tournament… This past weekend 11 male and 1 female wrestler from LDHS participated in the SCHSL State Individual Wrestling Championship at the Florence Civic Center (see below to see who all the wrestles were)… The Raiders had 4 male and the 1 female wrestler to finish in the top 4 of the event.
- In the 138-pound division, Dakota McCall finished first taking a 7–2 decision over his opponent
- In the 144-pound division, Michael Aiken finished second.
- In the 150-pound division, Leyden Gentry also finished second.
- In the 120-pound division, Kai McCall lost a close 5-4 decision to his opponent
- And last but certainly not least, Emily Riopel placed 4th in the female 170-pound weight class.
- Congratulations to these Raiders for a fine sho0wing this past weekend and to the Raider team and Coach Jordan for finishing second in the team completion this year!
- Four Sign at LDHS… Wednesday afternoon at LDHS four student athletes signed letter of intent to continue their academic and athletic careers at four different institutions in South Carolina… Laura Gregory and Maryah Hernandez will continue their cheerleading at two different schools… Laura will be cheering on the PC Blue Hose while Maryah will be doing the same for the Newberry Wolves… Both are members of the competitive cheer team at LDHS since it was started by Coach Erin Patterson two years ago… The team was able to qualify for the state tournament this year… Leyden Gentry is signing with Coker University to continue hos wrestling career… His career at LDHS is not quite over as he has qualified for the Individual State Wrestling Tournament in Florence starting tomorrow in Florence in the 150 pound weight class where he finished #1 in the recent Upper State Qualifier… Ja’Mauri Williams will continue his football career at Erskine College playing for the Flying Fleet… He has played defensive back and some linebacker for the Raiders where he has been a member of the All-Region Team for the past two years… He is planning on playing the same positions at Erskine… I am trying to get two video interviews audited and put up on YouTube but I am having trouble with my video editing program… If you would like to see the interview done with Williams and Gentry, click here… If you would like to see the interview done with Gregory and Hernandez click here… Congratulations and good luck to these fine young student athletes.
- Wrestling… I want to wish members of the Raider wrestling team good luck as they travel to the Florence Civic Center today and tomorrow to participate in the SCHSL Individual Wrestling Championships… Last weekend at Westside HS in Anderson at the Upper State Qualifier they placed high enough to punch their ticket to this weekend… Those wrestlers include (weight class, name, finishing position at qualifier):
- 106 – Chrisley Martin – 5
- 113 – Abel Miles – 7
- 120 – Kai McCall – 3
- 126 – Jordan Miles – 8
- 138 – Dakota McCall – 1
- 144 – Michael Aiken – 2
- 150 – Leyden Gentry – 1
- 157 – Jonathan Pagoda – 4
- 175 – Zane Kellett – 3
- 190 – Zi’Anthony Priestly – 5
- 215 – Michael Brown – 5
- In addition to these young men, Raider female wrestler Emily Riopel has qualified for the female portion of this event in the 170 pound classification.
- Good Luck to the Raiders!!!
Laurens Academy
- SCISA Finals Girls Basketball: Cross 45 – Crusaders 29
- When you start a season having lost 8 players from last year’s team and have 2 freshman and a 7th grader on your team and playing most of the game, you don’t reasonably expect to have as good a season as was the last one… Well, that was the case with the Laurens Academy Crusader varsity girls team this year that defied those expectations going 18-8 overall and winning their region with a 4-0 record, the region tournament and making it into the final game of the SCISA Class AA Championship game.
- Today I hate to have to report that the Crusaders “special season” came to an end Saturday in Sumter where the lost to the Cross Schools Stingrays by a score of 45-29… The Crusaders actually led 11-7 at the end of the first quarter but then turnovers and the Stingrays offense heating up the rest of the way while to Crusaders offense did not improve led to the loss… Sadie Bruyere was the only Crusader scoring in double-digits as she finished with 10 points… By the way she was named to the All-State Tournament team… Braylee Burke finished with 9 points, Abby Howard 4, Madisyn Graham 3, Mackenzie Runyans 2 and Caroline Robinson 1.
- Needless to say, that Coach Jason Marlett expressed nothing but pride in how his team improved throughout the season and played fearlessly… As you might expect, he can’t wait to see what the future hold for the team… The Crusaders will only lose one senior this year and that is Abby Howard who stepped up and played very well for the Crusaders especially down the stretch…. Congratulations to the Crusaders on a very good season!
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 for game(s) click on it to see details on the game(s).
Men
- DI AP Poll… The latest AP Top 25 Poll (2-16-25) some changes in the top 5 this week… Auburn is still #1 followed by Florida (3), Duke (4) and Alabama (2)… There were also some changes in spots 6-10 as Tennessee (5) now checks in at #6 followed by Texas A&M (8) Iowa State (10), Texas Tech (12) and St John’s (9) …Clemson moved up from #23 to #18 this week… 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 (2-16-25) also had a few changes in the top 5…Notre Dame (2) is the new #1 followed by Texas (3), UCLA (1), Southern Cal (6) and UConn (7)… Spots 6-10 are now occupied by South Carolina (4), LSU (5), Ohio State (9), North Carolina (12) and TCU (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.
Pro Sports: For more information on the game(s) below, click on the scores at the start of the section.
NASCAR
- Christopher Bell Wins in Atlanta Overtime Cup Series Race… In case you missed it Sunday, Christopher Bell took the win in the Cup Series race in Atlanta… The race went overtime finishing with a green-white-checkered finish… Bell and the others took the white flag and then on the back straightaway he was in front when drivers behind eh lead pack wrecked bringing out the caution and by NASCAR rule since he was ahead after taking the white flag when the caution light came on, he was declared the winner… Talk about being in the right spot at the right time… For more on this race including the order of finish for the entire field, click here. .
- Driver Standings… After this race, the top 3 drivers in the Cup Series Standings are Ryan Blaney, William Byron and Tyler Reddick… If you click here you will go the NASCAR posting that has the Cups Series standings from top to bottom… Once you get there you can click on tabs at the top of the page to see the driver standings in the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series.
- Master Schedule… 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:
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.
