By MONTE DUTTON

The county’s public-school rivals played a lively doubleheader at Clinton High School, and both meetings – they played last week at Laurens – were fun and full of action.

Clinton’s girls’ basketball team, ranked at the top of Class 2A by state coaches, won both games, as did Laurens’ boys.

After defeating the Raiders,45-40, on Friday night at LDHS, the Red Devils pulled away in the latter half to win, 47-30, on Monday. Clinton (12-0) won the fourth quarter, 17-7.

Mylayja Thompson led a balanced attack with 11 points. Kemoria Shelton and McKenzie Clark each added 10.

Laurens Nyri Allen not only put up double figures. She was the only Raider to score a field goal in the final half. Keyorie Yeargan scored her eight points in the first two quarters.

Friday’s game was a bit more of a struggle for the Red Devils. Tiyonna Jones led Laurens with 17 points. Allen paired 10 points with nine rebounds.

Thompson was the game’s leading scorer with 18 points for Laurens (7-5). Allenson Cook scored nine points. Nah’shia Wright scored eight and grabbed seven rebounds.

Clinton head coach John Gardner is pleased with his team’s development through a rigorous, crowded early season.

“We’ve been up and down,” he said. “We’ve probably won a couple games we shouldn’t have. We’ve been down double digits in the second half three times. This game (the latter against LDHS) was really good for us. We’re looking for progress, not protection.

“They’ve done a good job of compartmentalizing that.”

Clinton’s hectic schedule keeps running through the holidays, with the Red Devils facing West Ashley, Lucy Beckham and C.A. Johnson between Christmas and New Year’s at the Carolina Invite. West Ashley (6-3) takes on Clinton at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

The boys’ games were near-perfect matches. Laurens (6-6) won on its home floor, 46-43, and in the Clinton domain, 56-52.

It took double overtime for the Raiders to win the latter game. Clinton’s Zekhyron Butler came up with a loose ball and scored with two seconds remaining in regulation. Quinton Watts extended the game to a second extra period by scoring with 11.7 seconds left for the Raiders.

Laurens center Zee Simpson scored 12 of his 14 points after halftime and five in the first overtime.

Zy Butler scored 18 points for Clinton (4-5) in both games.

Manhattan put four players in double figures, led by Devin Dinkins with 19 points, and consistency and was the edge in Sunday’s 87-81 victory over Presbyterian.

One of those scorers, Anthony Isaac, snagged 16 rebounds in the game, played at Draddy Gymnasium in Riverdale, N.Y.

On the other hand, Jaylen Peterson scored a career-high 22 points and Jonah Pierce recorded yet another double-double, his sixth. They combined for 43 points and 19 rebounds for Presbyterian (6-8).

Carl Parrish scored nine points and grabbed nine rebounds.

Pierce scored the game’s first basket with a layup 15 seconds into the contest and wound up with 14 points in the opening half. After a dunk from Peterson and a three from Parrish, the Blue Hose took a 10-4 lead four and a half minutes into the game. Manhattan scored seven straight points, taking an 11-10 lead with 13:59 on the clock.

For the next few minutes, the two teams exchanged baskets and the lead.  With PC leading 14-13, Manhattan went on another 7-0 run With Manhattan leading 26-19 with 8:45 on the clock, the Blue Hose scored five points after another inside score from Pierce and a step-back three from Josh Pickett,cutting the Jaspers’ lead to 26-24. That was as close as the Blue Hose got to Manhattan (5-8) the rest of the half, as the Jaspers had a 45-36 halftime lead.

Presbyterian went on a 15-4 scoring run to start the latter half to take a 51-49 lead after a layup from Peterson with 16:14 on the clock. Peterson scored eight points during the run. Triston WIlson, Pickett and Pierce also scored. Presbyterian pushed its lead to four points a couple of times. After a three from the corner by Parrish gave the Blue Hose their final lead of the game, 64-61, at the 10:19 mark, Manhattan scored eight straight points, regaining the lead for good.

Pickett and Wilson both dished out a career-high seven assists

Truett McConnell, of Cleveland, Ga., visits PC on Sunday afternoon at 4. The Big South opener is on Jan. 3 versus USC Upstate at 2 p.m.

Take a look at the stats here.

Jacksonville State piled up a 74-39 victory over Presbyterian (2-11) at Templeton Center on Sunday.

The Gamecocks’ three leading scorers – Makayla Hobby with 15 points, Kyera Thornsbury with 14 and Mya Barnes with 12 – produced more than PC’s entire team.

The Gamecocks controlled the game from the tip. As a team, Jacksonville State (6-6) shot .537 percent from the field. Presbyterian managed only .302 overall and .188 from three-point range.

Aretha Linger led the Blue Hose with 12 points to go along with two steals and a blocked shot. This is the second time this season that Linger has scored in double figures. Morgan Boyd and Ja’Cia Cunningham each added seven points on the afternoon for PC. Boyd made a career-high two threes as well, giving her five for the season.

The Blue Hose open Big South play on New Year’s Eve against Radford at noon.

Take a look at the stats here.

Via social media, Clinton’s Hezekiah Kinard announced his transfer from Anderson University’s football program to Campbell University in Buies Creek, N.C.

Laurens Academy’s girls’ basketball continues to prosper. A 47-30 victory versus Wardlaw was the Crusaders’ ninth victory in 10 games. Only Great Falls, in the opener, has stopped LA thus far.

The boys are 5-5 after a 60-22 win over Wardlaw on Dec. 19 and a 44-28 victory over Newberry Academy on Dec. 20.

Laurens Academy visits Ninety Six on Dec. 30 and Ware Shoals on Jan. 3.

Basketball season has thus far been a long one for the Thornwell Saints, whose boys’ team is 0-8. The girls, however, are 5-4.

Thornwell’s next three games are at home: Ware Shoals on Jan. 2, McCormick on Jan. 9 and Whitmire on Jan. 13.

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