Tigers-

Bulldogs Split

BY WILSON SENN

　　With four regional games left in their seasons, both Saluda High School varsity basketball teams sit in second place as the Lady Tigers trail Broome by one game while the Tiger boys trail Newberry by two games.

　　Saluda split their double-header in Newberry Friday night but the biggest event of the evening came with 50.6 seconds left in the girls’ game.

　　Saluda’s Jasmine Deloach got her legs tangled up with a few other players, crashing them all to the floor.

　　While the others jumped right back up, Deloach stayed down on the court as she possibly had suffered her second concussion of the month.

　　Taking every precaution necessary in the incidence that another one had occurred, Deloach was wheeled off the court in a stretcher, but she did return to the gym under her own power to watch the boys’ game later that evening.

　　The evening started off with the Lady Tigers handing the Lady Bulldogs their fourth regional loss of the season with a 41-29 victory by the visitors.

　　Saluda’s ladies took the lead for the duration of the game at 4-3 as they would have a 12-3 advantage after the first eight minutes of play.

　　That nine-point lead would increase to a 10-point advantage at the break, 19-9.

　　Saluda’s 22-20 second half run was largely fueled by Raven Hamilton’s 12 points, including garnering 10 points in the fourth quarter alone.

　　Hamilton had a game-high 16 points while Shy Mathis had 10 points.

　　Deloach finished with nine points, Con Lott contributed four points while the now 13-5 Lady Tigers’ scoring was finished with the two points of Shanice Coates.

　　The visitor’s side of the Scott Gym had gotten pretty crowded by the start of the boys’ game with parents, grandparents, cheerleaders and the infamous "JERKS" Saluda High is well-known for as they were hoping to cheer their team on to a sweep of the evening.

　　The Newberry boys though never trailed though in their 68-55 victory, dropping Saluda to 9-9 on the season.

　　Saluda made only two field shots in the first quarter as they both came from behind the three-point arc by Jalen Pratt.

　　A 21-6 second quarter run sent Newberry into the locker rooms with a 37-17 advantage.

　　Saluda though would go on a 21-12 third quarter run but they never could get the Newberry lead into single digits before the Bulldogs finished the game off on a 19-17 run in the final stanza.

　　Maurice Howard had 16 points to lead the Saluda scoring as he was the only Tiger on the evening to score in each of the four quarters.

　　Pratt finished with 13 points, while Tra Norris saw six points go in during the second half. Dexter Wideman and Reuben Herbert had five points apiece. Teven McGraw scored four points while the Saluda scoring ended with the three points apiece of Tarence Miles and Brad Werts.

　　Saluda will play host to Mid-Carolina on Tuesday of this week while they will travel to Woodruff on Friday.

　　Tuesday’s games: Woodruff at Newberry, Mid-Carolina at Saluda, Emerald at Broome.Friday’s games: Newberry at Broome, Mid-Carolina at Emerald, Saluda at Woodruff.

 

 

 

KA 7th Grader Texanna Miller

Knight M.S. Teams

Prep For Tournament

By: Gerald Doolittle

　　Batesburg-Leesville, S.C. - This week the W.W. King Middle School teams will have two regular season games to prepare for the SCISA Region 2-A Tournament to be held at Cambridge Academy in Greenwood starting at noon on Saturday, February 4, with the quarter-final round. The Semi-final round will be on Monday, February 6, starting at 4 pm, and the Finals are on Wednesday, February 8 starting at 6 pm.

　　The Middle School Lady Knights are currently in second place with a 7-1 region record and will face the Lady Cougars of Cambridge this Thursday for the regular season title. The Lady Cougars are undefeated in region play. Should the Lady Knights win over Cambridge, they would then have to defeat Wardlaw at Wardlaw on Friday to keep it a tie for regular season. In the event of a tie, a coin flip will decide the seeding for the tournament. The Lady Knights must finish first or second to draw a first-round bye. Should they get a bye, they would not play until the semi-final round on Monday.

　　It appears the Middle School boys will finish with the fourth seed in the tournament against the fifth seed team which looks like Newberry. If that ends up the seeding, they would play at 1:15 PM Saturday at Cambridge.

　　The young Lady Knights have won the hearts of all Knight Nation with their hustle from the games’ start to finish. That type of play has earned them a 10-5 record going into this week. Morgan Price and Texanna Miller have led the offensive attack scoring 67 and 58 points for the season. Following Price and Miller in scoring is the foursome of Brooke Kleemoff, Taylor Kleemoff, Megan Corley and Nicki Boone with 42, 32, 31 and 30 points. The Lady Knights have been great at steals all season. They have out stolen the opponents 173-81 and are even with opponents on rebounds with 329 each. The defense has forced 354 turnovers. One area where Coaches Lisa Dorn and Mary Parrish wish they would improve is the free throws. However, 34 percent is not bad for that level of play.

　　The Middle School boys of Coaches Daniel Bartley and Michael Kinard will come into the tournament as defending champions with a 5-12 season record. Coach Bartley has a much younger team this year that has really improved the second half of the season. They lost a heart-breaking 25-20 overtime game Friday night at Laurens. This year the junior Knights have been led by Jonathan Griffith, who has scored 176 points for a 10.35 game average. Wyatt McDonald, the point guard, has scored 126 points for a 7.41 game average. Wyatt Oswalt and Logan Stone have been the key players inside scoring 68 and 55 points. Hunter DuBose, Ben Buzhardt and Clint McCoy all have seen plenty of playing time. Like the girls, the boys have out stolen the opponents 117-96 and forced 280 turnovers. Griffith and McDonald lead in steals with 44 and 35. This young team has not done badly in the rebounding game as they trail the opponents 462-450 for the season. Stone and Oswalt have led in that department with 118 and 117 boards. Griffith, Buzhardt and McDonald come in with 66, 57 and 52 boards.

　　This week the varsity teams of Coach Dennis Gibson hope to bounce back from defeats at Laurens Friday night. The girls fell 41-30 and the

boys were out-blitzed 54-22. The girls will play Wardlaw this Friday night, and the boys will host Long Cane on Thursday before playing Wardlaw on Friday. It appears both varsity teams will host tournament games on February 9.

 

 

 

 

PACKED HOUSE - The Saluda High cafeteria was filled to capacity when the football staff hosted the Tiger Football Recognition ceremony Sun., Jan. 29. All SHS junior varsity and varsity players were introduced, a video of season highlights was shown, and refreshments were served. (Standard-Sentinel photo)

 

 

 

SALUDANS IN ARKANSAS - CJ Lake, Saluda High Class of 2010 and current sophomore at the University of South Carolina, was selected to attend the Southeastern Conference Exchange of Student Governments this past weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas. While in Arkansas, she was able to catch up with another graduate of Saluda High (1999), Mitchell Spearman, who currently serves as the University of Arkansas’ Director of Planned Giving.