Writing out loud … well, not loud … I’m typing.

All else being equal, shouldn’t women’s basketball players shoot at a higher percentage than men?

The ball is smaller. The rim is the same size.

Like most everyone else, I’ve fallen in love with women playing basketball.

I never once recall looking at a men’s player and thinking he was cute.

Is this somehow controversial?

Now, if we can just get Caitlin Clark and Taylor Swift in the same stadium suite …

I watched a small amount of a UFL game. Is there anywhere Skip Holtz has not coached?

Could Peyton Manning be making more on commercials than he did playing football? Could Eli?

The biggest status symbol for athletes is now making State Farm commercials.

Why does Charles Barkley not have a sitcom or a talk show? Does he have a podcast? I think everyone in America except me does.

Hold everything. Such as the 17^th-ranked softball team in Division I.

Junior Lauralee Scott tossed a complete game to lead Furman to a 4-3 victory over Clemson on Tuesday night at McWhorter Stadium in Clemson.

Furman (18-18) defeated the Tigers in softball for the first time.

Scott (7-2) held the Tigers to three runs on six hits over seven innings. The Greenwood native issued six walks, fanned two batters, and stranded 10 Clemson runners on base.

With the game tied 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Clemson’s Grace Hiller worked a leadoff walk and pinch runner Julia Bomhardt moved to third base when Aby Vierira singled through the right side. Scott, however, induced three straight grounders and the Paladins cut down two runners at the plate to keep Clemson (24-11) off the board.

Furman regained the lead in the top of the seventh as pinch hitter Ainsley Yoshizumi and Ashlee Lykins reached with a single and walk, respectively, before moving into scoring position on a groundout. With two outs, Perry hit a sharp grounder towards first base that skipped off Valerie Cagle’s glove and into right field allowing two runs to score.

In the bottom of the seventh, McKenzie Clark drew a leadoff walk and Cagle followed with a single through the left side on a 3-2 pitch. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third. Allia Logoleo lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in a run and trim the margin to 4-3, but Scott got Lindsey Garcia to ground back to the circle for the second out. Following a base on balls by Grace Hiller, Scott got Aby Vieira to bounce the first pitch she saw back to the circle, and the righthander fired a strike to first base to end the game.

Lykins and Burroughs each went 1/3 with a single and a walk while Chloe Fabio added an RBI squeeze bunt and a stolen base. With her first-inning single, Lykins has reached base safely in 32 of the last 33 games.

Furman opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning. Ansley Chiang and Kaitlyn Laudick notched back-to-back singles to open the frame and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Chiang beat a throw to the plate on Fabio’s squeeze bunt to give the Paladins the lead before Laudick raced home on a wild pitch to give Furman a 2-0 advantage.

A single, walk and hit batter loaded the bases for the Tigers in the bottom of the frame. Arielle Oda worked a bases-loaded walk to get the Tigers on the board, but Scott got Alex Brown to ground out to the circle to end the threat.

After Furman started the third inning with a pair of singles from Kiley Perry and Burroughs but failed to score, Clemson’s Clark and Logoleo singled ahead of Lindsey Garcia’s game-tying sacrifice fly to right field. Scott got Hiller to fly out to leave the game knotted at 2-2 after three innings.

Millie Thompson (4-4) took the loss for Clemson, despite allowing just two unearned runs on a hit in five innings of relief. Logoleo went 2.2 at the plate with a pair of singles and a walk to lead the Clemson offense.

Furman returns to league play this weekend when it travels to Macon, Ga., to take on the Mercer Bears. Saturday’s doubleheader begins at 2 p.m. with the series finale on Sunday scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch.

Furman won its seventh straight women’s tennis match, a 6-1 Southern Conference win over Mercer at LeRoy Peddy Tennis Center in Macon, Ga.

The Paladins (10-10, 6–0 SoCon) captured two of three doubles wins to take the opening point.  At flight two, juniors Jess Dawson and Sara Snyder teamed up for a 6-3 advantage over Kristin Yordanova and Teodora Ristic, while freshman Maeve Thornton and junior Grace Thomas defeated Mariella Minetti and Tea Zivic, 6-1, at flight three.  The Bears’ Lea Falentin and Emi Cosatto beat juniors Ellie Schulson and Macy Hitchcock, 6-3, in the flight one contest.  

In singles action, Furman won five matches, three in straight sets.  In the top-seeded match up, Snyder made quick work of Ristic, winning 6-2, 6-0, and at number two, Thornton held on for a 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (10-7) victory over Falentin.  Thomas topped Minetti, 6-2, 6-3, at flight four, and Hitchcock downed Zivic, 6-4, 6-2, at number five.  Junior Marissa Pennings entered the Paladin lineup at flight six, where she came from behind to defeat Lekha Varudandi, 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (10-1). 

Mercer (11-7, 2-3) scored at flight three, where Cosatto held off Schulson, 6-4, 3-6, 1-0(10-7).

Furman is at Charlotte on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Anna Morgan begins competition Wednesday in the fifth Augusta National Women’s Amateur, her third-consecutive appearance in the prestigious tournament. Morgan tied for 21st at the 2022 ANWA then missed the cut at last year’s event.

An international field of 72 women amateurs, including the top 43 eligible amateurs in the final World Amateur Golf Ranking of 2023, will compete over 54 holes of stroke play. A cut will take place after 36 holes, advancing the leading 30 players and ties to the final round at Augusta National Golf Club.  In the event of a tie after 54 holes, the winner will be decided by sudden-death playoff.

The first two rounds will take place on the Island and Bluff nines at Champions Retreat Golf Club on Wednesday and Thursday.  The entire field will then play Augusta National for an official practice round on Friday.  The final round, featuring competitors who made the cut, will take place on Saturday at Augusta National.

Morgan will tee off on hole No. 1 at Championships Retreat at 8:35 a.m. in the tournament’s first round and will play in a group with Kokoro Nakamura of Japan and Farah O’Keefe of the United States.  In Thursday’s second round, Morgan will tee off of No. 10 at 9:32 a.m.

Provided she remain an amateur, the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur Champion will receive an invitation to the next five Augusta National Women’s Amateurs, the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open, the 2024 Women’s British Open, and any USGA, R&A and PGA of America amateur championships for which she is eligible for one year.

A senior from Spartanburg, Morgan holds a 69.4 stroke average over 27 rounds of play this season.

Former Paladins Alice Chen, Haylee Harford and Natalie Srinivasan competed at the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2019, where Harford tied for seventh and Srinivasan finished in a tie for 17th.  Srinivasan was invited to the 2020 event, which was canceled due to COVID-19.

Junior Paige Harman is Big South Women’s Lacrosse Offensive Player of the Week.
Harman, a native of Fairport, N.Y., paced the Furman offense as the Paladins opened Big South play last week with wins over Wofford and Gardner-Webb. She totaled 11 points on eight assists and three goals, while adding 10 draws and three ground balls. Harman recorded at least five points in both contests.
Furman heads to Clinton on Saturday afternoon for a noon start versus Presbyterian.

Readers, can you spare a few bucks for what you receive from this site?

If you’ve ever considered making a contribution, now is the time.

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 who appreciate my attempts to restore coverage of local sports.

In the off chance you’d like to read my novels and other books, they’re available on Amazon and many prominent bookseller sites.

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

Thanks for your support.