At Presbyterian College and Laurens District High School, basketball season to date has been a matter of being better but not better enough.

Both Blue Hose teams dropped Big South games on Saturday at Radford. Those are detailed under separate cover. USC Upstate (6-14, 1-6) is tied with Presbyterian (9-13, 1-6) at the bottom of the conference men’s standings. The Spartans and Blue Hose tip off at Templeton Center at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

USC Upstate (11-9, 6-1) leads the standings in women’s basketball and faces PC (12-10, 3-4) at Hodge Center in Spartanburg, also at 7.

At LDHS, it was Greer that swept the twinbill.

A worthy opponent, the fourth-ranked (in Class 4A) Yellow Jackets had to labor to defeat the Laurens boys (7-16, 1-4 Region 2-4A), 69-58, but the outcome was never in doubt after Greer (19-4, 4-1) pulled away with a 25-7 edge in the second quarter and a 42-19 halftime lead.

Isaiah Henry led Greer with 20 points.

K.J. Singleton led the Raiders with 19 points, followed by TyJones with 10. Also etched in the scorebook were Jaylen Simpson (6), Martinez Shaw (6), Zee Simpson (6), Tylan Fowler (5), Nick Danciu (4) and Nigere Brown (3).

Amiya Lamelle scored 23 points as Greer (8-9, 3-2) doubled up Laurens, 58-29, in the girls’ game.

Laurens (7-13, 0-5) never scored more than eight points in a quarter or put a scorer in double figures.

Nyri Allen led the Raiders with nine points. Other scorers were Ty Jones (5), Faith Jackson (5), Shanayi Chinn (4), Taliyah Ballard (2), Keyoric Yeargin (2), Destiny Anderson (1) and Zoe Young (1).

Meanwhile, in Winnsboro, the Laurens Academy girls rolled past Richard Winn, 40-20, behind Olivia Huck’s 22 points. The Crusaders took an eight-point lead in the first quarter and never looked back.

Rylee Ballard added seven points for LA (19-1, 9-0 SCISA 1-A). Also scoring were Abby Howard (2), Gracie Hall (2), Sadie Bruyere (2) and Madisyn Graham (1).

Huck hit 7/15 shots and 7/9 free throws. As a team, the Crusaders hit 15/56 from the field and 8/14 from the line.

Delaney Young led Winn (7-6, 5-4) with nine points. The Eagles connected on 7/51 shots and 3/10 free throws.

The Crusaders rolled past Brashier Middle College, 35-19, at home on Saturday morning in a stand-alone game. LA led 19-13 at halftime but stopped the Bengals cold in the third quarter.

Tops in scoring versus Brashier was Hannah Erwin, who scored 13 points. She was 4/5 from the field and 5/6 free throws. Huck settled for 12 on 4/6 from both the field and the line.

Also scoring were Bruyere (5), Ballard (4) and Graham (1).

Winn (16-1, 11-0) punished the LA boys, 65-24, and Drew Spires put up 33 points by himself.

Jared Willard led Laurens Academy (9-14, 6-8) with 11 points.

Also scoring were Evan Asalone (5), Hunter Campbell (3), Tristan Bates (2), Elijah Hornberger (2) and Garrett Murphy (1).

On the bright side, LA swept the middle-school games at Winn, winning the boys’ game, 24-19, behind Elias Littleton’s 15 points.
Brooklyn Senn led the girls with 12 points – Mackenzie Runyans had 10 – as they beat the Eagles, 31-24.

In Calhoun Falls, the Flashes were particularly bright against Thornwell. The girls won, 42-9, and the boys won, 85-20.

Clinton’s wrestling team finished second to Chester in the Region 4-3A tournament at Woodruff.

On Tuesday, the Red Devils take basketball teams undefeated in Region 4-3A to Woodruff. The Clinton girls are 15-5 overall and the boys 11-7. Both are 5-0 in region play.

The Wolverines are a half game back of the Devils. The Woodruff girls are 9-11, 5-1 region, while the boys are 14-8 and 5-1.

Riverside visits Laurens. The Warrior boys (18-4, 4-1 Region 2-4A) just lost their first region contest, falling 47-45 to Eastside. Riverside defeated Laurens, 50-42, earlier.

Riverside (4-7, 5-0) defeated Laurens, 71-26, in the girls’ game on Jan. 5.

Anderson Christian visits the Laurens Academy boys. The Lions have not yet roared. The team is 0-16. Oakwood Christian, also of Anderson, takes on the LA girls.

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