Thank goodness I was a spelling champion as a kid. I’m still pretty sharp on normal words, but names confuse me regularly.

Laurens has a TyJ and a Ty. The latter is a girl. Both are Joneses, famously hard to keep up with.

Furman has J.P and PJay.

Those are the easy ones.

Alas, poor Keyoric, I knew [her] well. That’s Shakespeare and Raider.

The kids might be better educated if forced to spell one another’s names.

See copious further examples below.

Clinton closed out the regular season with twin basketball victories over Emerald, honoring the seniors and rehearsing for the Class 3A playoffs.

The girls closed out the Vikings, 35-23. No one scored more than six points for the unfortunate visitors from Greenwood.

Mylayja Thompson provided most of the string music for Clinton, scoring 15 points. Ry’Daija Mars and Bryanna Belton chipped in eight apiece.

Also tickling the home nets for Clinton (18-5, 8-0 Region 4-3A) were Symiah Floyd and Zakalia Redd, both with two.

The Devils open the playoffs at home next Wednesday. Emerald concludes its run 8-10 and 4-4.

Also wrapping up an undefeated region season were the Clinton boys (14-7, 8-0), who burned the Viking ships, 65-48. The Red Devils led by six (31-25) at halftime and pulled away in the latter couplet.

Tushawan Richardson tortured the Vikes with 22 points. Devin Swindler added 12 and Kadon Crawford had 10.

Also joining the hootenanny were Keleja Byrd (6), Denarian Aiken (4), Emarian Jones (3), Jalin Massey (3), M.J. Henderson (2), Dirkus Clark (1) and Kylen Calhoun (1).

Dontavius Glenn’s charges won the region for the second consecutive season. Emerald is 9-16 and 2-6.

On the other side of Region 2-4A are the Laurens Raiders in both genders.

Michael Cade’s Raiders played Eastside close but fell, 64-58, in the home and season finale.

Laurens (7-16, 0-8) trailed the Eagles (10-8, 2-5) entering the fourth quarter but got as close as four points down the stretch.

Zoe Young scored 18 points, Nyri Allen crossed the line with 14 and Destiny Anderson chipped in 10.

Other points producers were Shanayi Chinn (6), Keyoric Yeargin (4) and Ty Jones (4).

It was all downhill in the boys’ game as Laurens scored the game’s first six points but lost, 66-45, to the visiting Eagles.

Justin Ray led Eastside (17-5, 4-3) with 17 points.

No one scored in double figures for Armond Flood’s crew. Those who did score were TyJ Jones (9), Zee Simpson (8), Martineze Shaw (6), Tylan Fowler (6), Quin Andeson (4), Jaylen Simpson (4), Nick Danciu (3), Damyyo Watts (3), Hyikeem Burnside (2) and V.J. Austin (1).

Laurens finishes, likely anyway, 7-19 and 1-7 in the region. Further results offer faint hope of a playoff berth.

The Thornwell Saints have made improvement in their first seasons of varsity basketball. The boys’ and girls’ teams have each won only once, but early-season outcomes such 72-12 have been replaced by more reasonable margins.

Whitmire beat Thornwell, 27-19, in the girls’ game Monday. The Saints actually led 7-6 at halftime. The Wolverines dominated the third quarter.

Jessie Pitts led Thornwell Charter with eight points, followed by Kelyn Spurgeon (5), Madi Landrith (2), Karleigh Porter (2) and MyKenzie Godfrey (1).

Whitmire dominated the boys’ game, winning 56-23. Kaevon Washington paced the Saints with eight points, followed by Kezavious Kinard finished (5), Brian Veal (4), Elijah Heithold (3), Evan Summer (2) and Kyshaun Webster (1).

Next the Saints have a problem with Hornets. The Calhoun Falls Green Hornets visit on Wednesday, and TCS takes on the ones at S.C. School for the Deaf and Blind in Spartanburg on Thursday.

Clinton’s Kadon Crawford, a multi-purpose, one-man wrecking crew of Red Devil football, announced via social media – that’s the way it’s done nowadays — that he is headed to Coastal Carolina as a “preferred walk-on.”

He also considered Newberry and Presbyterian, where he would have been a walk-on because everyone else is.

The Blue Hose put together a package. Here’s hoping the Chanticleers do, too. My guess is he’ll have a strong impact on special teams right away.

Clinton remains seventh in the state basketball coaches’ girls’ basketball rankings. Here’s the whole list:

SCBCA 2023-2024 Top 10 Rankings

5A Boys Top 10

1. Lexington

2. Summerville

3. Byrnes

4. St. James

5. Dorman

6. Blythewood

7. West Ashley

8. Gaffney

9. Cane Bay

10. River Bluff

5A Girls Top 10

1. Sumter

2. Mauldin

3. Rock Hill

4. Dutch Fork

5. Byrnes

6. Ashley Ridge

7. J.L. Mann

8. Summerville

9. Gaffney

10. Berkeley

 4A Boys Top 10

1. Ridge View

2. Catawba Ridge

3. Westwood

4. Wilson

5. Riverside

6. Greer

7. North Augusta 

8. A.C. Flora

9. Lancaster

10. Greenville 

4A Girls Top 10

1. South Pointe

2. North Augusta

3. Bluffton

4. Westside

5. Ridge View

6. Riverside

7. A.C.Flora

8. Hartsville

9. Pickens

10. Wilson

3A Boys Top 10

1. Crestwood

2. Darlington

3. Wren

4. Orangeburg-Wilkinson

5. Powdersville

6. Daniel

7. Seneca

8. Loris

9. Dillon

10. Lower Richland

3A Girls Top 10

1. Camden 

2. Wren 

3. Blue-Ridge  

4. Lower Richland 

5. Orangeburg-Wilkinson 

6 Crestwood

7. Clinton 

8. Daniel 

9. Waccamaw

10. Dillion
2A Boys Top 10

1. Gray Collegiate 

2. Oceanside Collegiate

3. Andrew Jackson

4. Hampton County

5. Landrum

6. Mullins

7. Marion

8. Fox Creek

9. Woodland
10. Greer Middle College

2A Girls Top 10

1. Andrew Jackson

2. Silver Bluff 

3. Gray Collegiate 

4. Keenan

5. Bishop England 

6. Blacksburg

7. Landrum 

8. Lee Central 

9. Fairfield Central

10. Oceanside Collegiate 

A Boys Top10 

1. Christ Church

2. North

3. McCormick

4. Denmark-Olar

5. Bethune Bowman

6. High Point

7. Whale Branch

8. Bridges Prep

9. Dixie

10. Great Falls

A Girls Top 10

1. Military Magnet

2. Denmark-Olar

3. Carvers Bay

4. Lake View

5. Allendale-Fairfax

6. East Clarendon

7. Hunter-Kinard-Tyler

8. Bamberg-Ehrhardt

9. Cross

10. Southside Christian

As is the case most Wednesdays, Presbyterian College is in action. The larger basketballs are at Templeton Center as the Blue Hose men take on Gardner-Webb (11-12, 6-2 Big South) at 7 p.m.

Presbyterian (10-14, 2-7) are led by Marquis Barnett, who averages 14.3 points per game. The Blue Hose lead the conference in field-goal percentage at .473 for the season.

Gardner-Webb is on a six-game winning streak that began against PC in Boiling Springs, N.C.

The Runnin’ Bulldogs lead the series, 35-23.

Typically, the PC women are at GWU, also at 7.

Three Presbyterian (12-12, 3-6 BSC) have three of the league’s top 10 scorers in Bryanna Brady (12.4 ppg), Mara Neira (12.2) and Tilda Sjokvist (12.0), neatly aligned at seventh, ninth and 10^th.

Junior guard Ashley Hawkins leads Gardner-Webb (3-18, 2-6), averaging 14.8 points and 5.5 assists.

Gardner-Webb leads PC’s “official” interpretation of the series, 17-16. The Blue Hose do not deem pre-Division I games as worthy of mention.

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