Who knew the last of the basketball would be at Presbyterian College?

The Blue Hose women’s basketball team is playing Sacred Heart of Fairfield, Conn., in the NCAA Tournament’s play-in game. PC, the fifth seed in the Big South, swept through the tournament.

The Pioneers of the not usually pioneerish Northeast are 24-9, and the Blue Hose of the not overwhelmingly Big South are 20-14. PC is not only the smallest school in the tournament but also in NCAA Division I.

The game is Wednesday evening, 7 p.m., on ESPNU, at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, and it’s a game between an underdog and another underdog.

All but one great sports team loses the last game. Few are more prone to a thud than Presbyterian College and Sacred Heart University, and many of the folks at both places never heard of each other.

Both have heard of the next rung up the ladder because the top-ranked, 32-0, University of South Carolina Gamecocks next guard their roost as if it resided in Fort Knox.

South Carolina defeated Presbyterian, 99-29, on Dec. 16, 2023. I have little doubt they could do better. They took on the Gamecocks 16 hours after they polished off South Carolina State, 63-52, in Clinton.

This time, if it happens, it’s on 2 p.m. Friday.

There are Gamecocks, and then there are game Hose. The former is the way to bet.

This is the crowning achievement in the history of Presbyterian women’s basketball. It hasn’t been around forever. The original coach is now the mayor.

Alaura Sharp’s team lost four players to injury. They roar into Columbia riding eight victories in the last nine games, and who knows how good Sacred Heart is? The Pioneers have a 5-3 guard who averages 7.1 rebounds a game. I’m anxious to see whether she’s really great or teams up there are really small.

Whoever wins hasn’t seen anything like South Carolina. I’ve been so fascinated, I’ve watched them on TV a lot.

Women’s basketball is a national sensation, yet the National Football League still seems unconcerned.

But that is not all.

The Presbyterian men’s team is also playing postseason basketball.

I knew the landscape was spreading on to the NIT and the CIT and the CBI and some asphalt courts in the parks of Brooklyn, but I didn’t know until this morning that a team could go to one of them with a 14-18 record.

PC was 20-16 when it went to another one, the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, in 2019.

The CBI is the Ro College Basketball Invitational, and the Blue Hose, a 12^th seed, are to play Montana (23-12), a five, on March 24 at 1 p.m. at Daytona Beach (Fla.) Beach Center.

Which brings up the question: What is Ro? I can’t find it. Roe v. Wade? That’s been overturned. Ro Khanna is a Congressman. I doubt he’s running a tournament. It’s abbreviated for Romania. Romania is playing Northern Ireland. I don’t think it’s basketball.

Whatever. Good seats are still available.

Moving on to what has happened as opposed to what is to happen yet. …

Laurens and Hillcrest played a baseball game so tension filled on Monday night in Simpsonville that something had to give.

The Rams blinked with two out in the ninth inning when shortstop Elijah Doll couldn’t solve Owen Pridgen’s grounder, and Josh Goodwin scored what proved to be the winning run, 5-4.

Connor Rice, almost lights out in relief of Asher Goss, hit a batter but none hit him solidly in the bottom of the ninth. He spent 3-1/3 innings peering from the mound, conceded no hits and walked one. He struck out five.

Four Raiders – Zay Pulley, Bennett Edwards, Ben Willis and Avery Madden – stacked up two hits apiece.

The Raiders broke on top in the second after extricating themselves from trouble with a Hunter Nabors-turned double play in the bottom of the first.

Willis, Goss  and Coleman Coker walked. Madden singled Willis home, and Goss scored on Jireh Brown’s groundout.

A one-out double by Hillcrest’s Damien Benton led to Ayden Moore’s two-out RBI single. The Rams left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth, and Laurens (9-2) still led, 2-1, but in the fourth inning, Hillcrest took the lead on a sacrifice bunt and a passed ball. Again the Rams left the bases jammed.

Laurens center fielder Pulley laced a single to center, and left fielder Brown, who had walked, tied the score.

Hillcrest took the lead on a Goss error in the sixth, but the Raiders pulled back even in the top of the seventh. With one out, Nabors doubled, but Pulley grounded out to short. Nabors moved up to third, and Bennett Edwards singled to right, tying the score, 4-4.

Rice mowed down Hillcrest (5-6) and sent the game into extra innings. Rice wiggled out of a spot in the eighth by striking out Doll with runners on second and third.

Tyson Moses, also the latter Hillcrest hurler, took the loss. Alex Lacoste and Landon Harris each had two hits for the Rams.

Laurens takes a six-game winning streak into Tuesday’s rematch on the Raiders’ home turf at 6:30. Clinton (4-3) hosts Laurens on Wednesday evening.

Spartanburg Christian needed just five innings to put Laurens Academy away, 11-1, on the Warriors’ base of operations.

For starters, Luke Davis had too much for Crusader batters, to whom he apportioned two hits and a walk while striking out 10.

Elijah Hornberger and Evan Asalone rapped the LA (1-4) hits.

After scratching for a run in the second inning, the Warriors busted free with four in the third and five in the fifth.

Caleb Hardy, the first of four Laurens Academy hurlers, took the loss.

Dorman took a 4-2 win over Clinton boys’ tennis, but the Red Devils took Nos. 2 and 4 singles behind Edwin Orr, 6-7 (8-10), 6-4 (10-4) and Jacob King, 6-2, 7-6 (1).

The Red Devils visit Aiken on Wednesday at 5 p.m

Laurens picked up another boys’ tennis victory, venturing to Union (namely County) for a 5-1 decision.

Will work for food, but contributions would be better. They’re both good and good for me.

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