It was the fairer sex that was better at playing basketball on Wednesday night.

At Clinton High School, the girls’ team was winning its first-round playoff game over Southside. A couple miles away and across the railroad tracks, Presbyterian was polishing off UNC Asheville.

However, in far Asheville, northward and upward, the Bulldogs would have broken the Blue Hose men’s hearts were they not made of sterner stuff toughened by too much heartbreak.

Strangely, Southside High School of Greenville, which doesn’t have a notably stout athletics program, has had a bit of a jinx going on Clinton basketball.

A little history from the boys’ side. Southside upset Clinton, 49-46, on Tuesday, eliminating the Region 4-3A champion for the playoffs.

Southside also eliminated Clinton’s best boys’ team in the past decade, the 2016-17 team that advanced to the Upstate finals at Greenville’s Bon Secours Arena. The score of that game was 71-43. Okay, Clinton defeated Southside, 64-56, in ’22-23.

This, however, was girls, and as noted earlier, Wednesday was a girls’, not to mention a Saint Valentine’s, night.

John Gardner’s Red Devils, ranked eighth in the state coaches’ association’s final poll, opened the Class 3A playoffs with a 43-18 victory over the Tigers.

Mylayja Thompson, who is on the Class 3A all-state team selected by the same body, was up to form as she pumped in 20 points in the Red Devils’ 43-18 victory, capped by a 14-0 shutout in the fourth quarter.

Clinton (19-5) started just as fast with an 11-3 first quarter and a 17-9 halftime lead.

Southside (11-10) got back in the game in the third quarter and pulled briefly within three at 21-18. The Tigers didn’t score again.

Joining Thompson in scoring were Bryanna Belton (6), Ry’Daijia Mars (5), Nah’shia Wright (4), Zakalia Redd (4), Kemaria Shelton (2) Symiah Floyd (2).

Only three Tigers scored, led by Alyssa Williams with 11 points.

West Oak (18-6) defeated Chapman, 66-59, in Inman and will take on the Red Devils in Clinton on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Gardner called it “a great team win” and “a solid effort on defense.”

If ever a novel based on Presbyterian College’s last two men’s basketball seasons were written, no one but Stephen King could handle the chore.

On the road, against one of the Big South’s more powerful programs, Quinton Ferrell’s Blue Hose charged out to a 20-point, first-half lead over UNC Asheville in the Bulldogs’ home arena.

UNCA won, 71-69. PC always puts a scare in the Bulldogs. A season earlier at UNCA, PC took the Bulldogs into overtime. That was the game Drew Pember scored 48 points, the most by any Division I player all season. UNCA won, 84-80, at Templeton earlier this season.

This time Pember hit 2/10 field-goal attempts … and 11/12 free throws. He took a long road to 16 points. Josh Banks also scored 16, and Toyaz Solomon added 14.

The Blue Hose began the game riding a brisk mountain breeze as they took a 12-2 lead in the first four minutes. Kaleb Scott hit his first three shots.

The effect of the breeze was to send shock waves coursing through Kimmel Arena.

Stewart’s triple at 13:57 hiked the Blue Hose edge to 20-6. Halfway through the first half, it was 25-12, and Kobe Stewart and Scott were responsible for 17 of them. Pember had only a three-pointer and two rebounds as PC’s lead stretched to 34-17.

Pierce’s free throw put PC up, 43-23, with 3:27 left.

The halftime score was 46-29. Scott had 10 points, followed by Stewart and Barnett with nine apiece. No UNCA player had more than four.

The Blue Hose played so well in the first half, it was mildly scary. Presbyterian shot .586 overall and even better (.667) with 10/15 threes. Stewart hit all three of his. UNCA shot .407 and .250, respectively, suffering a 17-12 deficit on the boards.

Given UNCA’s lofty status, no one expected it to take an embarrassing home loss without staunch resistance, and the Bulldogs outscored the Blue Hose, 20-8, in the first eight minutes of the second half, at which point PC’s lead was 54-49.

By the stretch drive, Stewart and Reddish-Rhone each had four fouls.

Two Marquis Barnett free throws at the halfway point of the second half put the Hose up, 58-53, then a Kory Mincy bucket off a Barnett steal hiked it to 60-53 at 9:28.

UNC Asheville (18-9, 10-2) finally took the lead, 65-63, on a Trent Stephney three-pointer with 5:50 to play.

And back and forth they went.

By the time of its dismal ending, Scott had fouled out with 14 and eight rebounds, and Reddish-Rhone was gone. Stewart was almost alone, guarding the rim while saddled with four fouls. Then, with a few seconds left, he fouled out, too.

“It came down to our inability to rebound,” stated Ferrell, “and to play without fouling [UNCA] in the second half.”

The game seldom moved right along. Forty-four fouls were called, 25 of them against the Blue Hose. UNCA canned 30/37 free throws. PC hit 13/22. It’s tough to overcome a 17-point deficit at the free-throw line.

Barnett led all scorers with 20 for Presbyterian (12-15, 4-8). Scott scored 14 and snagged eight rebounds. Samage Teel added 10.

Presbyterian connected on 10 three-point field goals in 23 tries. Stewart hit 3/5 and Teel 3/7.

Banks made two free throws to give the Bulldogs the lead for good. The Blue Hose had a few chances to tie the score or take the lead in the final minutes but were not able to convert. The Bulldogs never led by more than three points.

“I feel like we can beat any team in this league,” Ferrell said.

PC has definitely established its ability to play the powers close.

The Blue Hose are back at Templeton with a Saturday game against Longwood at 2 p.m.

Take a look at the stats here.

Back in Clinton, life was but a dream for Alaura Sharp’s Blue Hose, who destroyed UNCA in the second half en route to a 59-42 victory.

The PC women led by but a point, 27-26, at halftime. They underscored the concept of a team victory by scoring 17 bench points while putting a trio in double figures.

Bryanna Brady led Presbyterian (14-13, 5-7 BSC) with 13 points, followed closely by Christina Kline with 11 and Mara Neira with 10.

“I’m so proud of our team for just having unbelievable ‘stick with it.’ We played okay in the first half, but our third quarter was just amazing,” Sharp said. “Our kids came out roaring and ready to go.”

Mallory Bruce put up 25 points for UNC Asheville (9-16, 3-9), but only three others scored and none in double figures. Sharp credited Paige Kindseth for limiting her to eight in the latter half.

UNCA led for just 47 seconds of the game but scored the final six points of the former half.

Brady opened the third-quarter charge in which the Blue Hose outscored the Bulldogs, 18-2. Essentially, PC built its final margin, leading 45-28 after three.

PC produced 17 points off the bench, 32 in the paint, and 22 from turnovers. Kline added four assists and three rebounds to her 11 points. Eight Blue Hose scored.

The Blue Hose return to the road for a game against the Longwood Lancers on Saturday at 2 p.m.

“We still have four (regular-season games left),” Sharp said. “There’s a lot that can happen in the (tournament) seedings, and we want to make sure we’re playing really [well] headed into the conference tournament.”

Take a look at the stats here.

The past two weeks I’ve been suffering from shingles, which have curtailed my live coverage. On Tuesday night, I covered a game for the first time in a while. Even while laid up, though, at least one piece has been posted here for 34 straight days.

I still don’t feel so hot. A coach would probably list me as questionable. It may be a game-time decision.

Shingles has also knocked me off my financial rocker. I’m strapped for cash.

Blue, Green, Purple & Red cannot solely be funded by advertising. There’s not enough room. If you like the coverage, please donate whatever you consider appropriate via Venmo at DHK Sports. If you choose, make a monthly donation via Patreon. The Laurens County site is here. The Furman site is here.

Support the advertisers. They are all fine people.

In the off chance anyone would like to read my novels, they’re available on Amazon and many prominent bookseller sites.

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