Diamond Harling (10) takes a tumble going to the basket against the Lady Demons Tuesday. (Photo/Ross Burton)
BLYTHEWOOD – The Westwood girls’ basketball team needed a win over Region IV-4A rival Lugoff-Elgin Tuesday night, along with a Blythewood loss at Spring Valley, to remain in the hunt for the Class 4A playoffs.
The Lady Redhawks got both, cruising to a 55-17 victory over the Lady Demons, while Blythewood fell 64-37 at Spring Valley.
Westwood moves to 8-10 overall and 2-5 in the region; and with the win, is now tied for fourth with Blythewood.
Lady Redhawks head coach Gregory Bauldrick said that he wanted his team to use struggling Lugoff-Elgin (1-13, 0-7) to work on its game plan in preparation for the final stretch of the season.
“We would have liked to execute things that we need to focus on, but it was a difficult game to even try to do that,” Bauldrick said. “The kids know what kind of team they (the Lady Demons) are, so it’s hard to get them to focus and execute because in their mind they truly believe they don’t have to do that to get the win.”
The season doesn’t get any easier for Westwood, as it plays host to the Dutch Fork Lady Silver Foxes Friday (Feb. 6), then travels to Blythewood and Spring Valley next week to close out the season. All three teams have already chalked up victories on the Lady Redhawks.
“We were trying to sharpen our knife a little bit to get better and prepare for Friday night,” Bauldrick said. “This was a good game to tune up for that. I think we didn’t take full advantage of this game, but we’ll gladly take the win.”
Both teams got off to a slow start, with Westwood holding an 8-3 lead four minutes into the first quarter. The Lady Redhawks finished the quarter with a 13-1 scoring run and eventually took a 33-8 lead into halftime.
Lugoff-Elgin proved no match for Westwood’s Mya Belton, who led all scorers with 16 points, and leading rebounder Kayla Atkins, who had 12 rebounds.
“They’ve both played very well for us,” Bauldrick said. “Mya is a freshman. She’s hungry to get better each and every night. Tonight was a big night for her. Kayla’s just a beast inside and a matchup against anybody we play.”
Morgan Britt and Mikeya Matthews scored 11 points apiece.
Westwood outrebounded the Lady Demons 38-9, and had 16 steals.
L-E: 4-4-3-6 – 17
WHS: 21-12-13-9 – 55
LE- Weems 6, Wells 4, Hodge 4, Gadson 2, Qualls 1. W- Mya Belton 16, Morgan Britt 11, Mikeya Matthews 11, Tyler 7, Atkins 6, Samuel 3, Harling 1.