By MONTE DUTTON

The basketball played by boys and girls is not the same. There are small differences.

No games, played back to back, ever differed more than the ones played at the varsity level on Friday night at Clinton High School.

Dontavius Glenn’s boys staged an exciting second-half comeback to fight off the Union County Yellow Jackets, 63-55.

John Gardner’s girls won a game right out of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! The Red Devils took no prisoners because the Yellow Jackets didn’t have any. Union County was scoreless in the first and fourth quarters and barely scratched the other two. The final score was 61-4. Ten players saw action for Clinton. Nine of them scored as many or more than the Yellow Jackets’ entire team.

One doesn’t see such outcomes often, though Ninety Six beat the Thornwell boys, 75-12 just a few miles away, and the Wildcat girls won, 61-10.

Tushawan Richardson did not score in the first quarter against the Yellow Jackets. He scored nine points in the second quarter, 14 in the third and 14 in the fourth.

That’s 37 points in the final 24 minutes.

Perhaps you can see a connection. Union County led 14-4 after one, 28-17 at half and 47-41 after three. In the final quarter, the Red Devils pounded the Jackets 22-8.

In the first half, Clinton played half-court defense poorly, often was beaten deep by the fast-paced Union County offense, and the primary reason the Devils often didn’t get back was the 11 turnovers they committed.

In the latter half, the Red Devils pressed, Union turned it over 14 times, and Richardson made them pay in most every way imaginable. He only popped one triple but scored 10 times for two. He hit 14/17 free throws. He attacked the lane with the team on his back, and his teammates were hustling right along with him.

The entire team made a banzai run. Clinton outrebounded Union, 43-24, committed only three fourth-quarter turnovers, and forced six.

Hardworking Kadon Crawford scored nine points, as did Keleja Byrd. Michael Henderson’s lone bucket was a fourth-quarter triple.

Keishawn Gibson led Union (6-11, 0-1) with 17 points. Eric Gray added 11.

“We were sluggish in the first half, no doubt about it,” said Glenn. “We got off the deck, and I think it got us back on our game, not just tonight, but the last few games.”

Clinton (7-8, 1-0) put an end to a three-game skid. The Red Devils visit Columbia High on Monday night and resume the Region 4-3A schedule on Jan. 12 at Woodruff.

The girls’ game was incredible in an awful kind of way for the visitors.

Nothing could be done about it. The clock ran continuously in the second half, which slowed but didn’t stop the Union misery.

Chloe Bailey hit a three-pointer for Union, which was 1/1 from the field in the second quarter until someone got another shot off, which failed, in the first half’s final minute.

Did the Yellow Jackets go into some sort of old-time stall? Oh, no. They committed 11 turnovers in the game’s first four minutes and 29 in the first half. The running clock kept the game total down to 39.

Clinton (10-5, 1-0) hit 18/53 shots, which wasn’t exactly filling it up (.340), but Union County (2-12, 0-1) was 1/20 (.050). The Devils outrebounded the Jackets, 30-20. Union hit 1/4 free throws, that one being by Gabby Eison.

Bryanna Belton led the Red Devils with 14 points, and Kemaria Shelton produced 11. Their numbers were just a bit more prolific. McKenzie Clark and Zakaria Redd each added six. A group of four – Emma Patterson, Symiah Floyd, Ry’Daijia Mars and Nah’shia Wright – scored five apiece. Mylayja Thompson chipped in four.

Clinton hit 11/17 free throws.

Jayden Glenn led the Clinton junior varsity by scoring eight points in the Red Devils 40-33 win, and Clinton broke open the game in part because Glenn scored seven of his points – two triples, one of which became a four-point play – in the fourth quarter.

The Laurens boys overcame a poor first half, but couldn’t quite get over the top as Riverside defeated the Raiders, 50-42, in Greer.

After trailing by eight at halftime, Laurens (6-10, 0-1 Region 2-4A) tied the score 32-32 after three quarters, but yielded eight points to the Warriors in the fourth. Riverside (14-3, 1-0) canned 7/9 free throws down the stretch.

Tylan Fowler popped 27 points, of which 18 were in the second half, for the Raiders. Others in the book were TyJ Jones (5), Nick Danciu (4), E’Myus Young (2), Zee Simpson (2) and Martineze Shaw (2).

The Warriors routed Laurens (7-8, 0-1) in the girls’ game, 71-26, behind 19 points from Kendal Haroski and an effective full-court press.

Riverside (10-7, 1-0) made it tough for the Raider scorers. Faith Jackson led the way with six points, followed by Zoe Young (5), Ty Jones (5), Taliya Ballard (4), Destiny Anderson (2) and Keyoric Yeargin (2).

Buddy Baker scored 17 points, leading the Laurens Academy boys (6-8) past Anderson Christian, 48-19.

Braydon Burke added 13 for the 6-8 Crusaders. Garrett Murphy chipped in five, Jared Willard four, Evan Asalone and Garrison Vaughn three apiece, Elijah Hornberger two and Elijah Straight one.

Keep those cards, letters and donations coming. The sports seasons are back at full speed. In the fall, I’m up all night on weekends. In winter, I’m up late most nights.

I’m thankful for your support, whether by advertising, contributing or reading.

Thanks so much for the recent contributions. My goal is to provide unique coverage of local sports. I’m aware that folks appreciate what I do, particularly the kids, coaches, parents and fans.

I used to list an address to send a check (DHK Sports, P.O. Box 768, Clinton, S.C. 29325). I finally got it through my thick head that not that many people write checks nowadays. For example, me. A more convenient means might be sending a reasonable contribution to DHK Sports on Venmo.

Support the advertisers, and help keep the site – the game stories, the blogs, the photos – alive by making, if you choose, a monthly donation via Patreon. The Laurens County site is here. The Furman site is here.

Another way I can make a little is if you purchase my books at MonteDutton.net. They’re quite entertaining in spite of the fellow who wrote them. Two of my novels, Cowboys Come Home and Lightning in a Bottle, are available in audio versions. The latest, The Latter Days, is about baseball.

Photo galleries are posted on Instagram @furmanatt and @laurenscountysports.