BATESBURG- The Richard Winn Lady Eagles finished their regular season last Friday night with a road game against the King Academy Knights, and the Eagles absolutely decimated King. Only three Knights put up points against the stifling RWA defense, and the Lady Eagles rolled to a 31-13 blowout.
Lydia Wilder and Taylor Spires lead the Eagles to a nine-point first quarter, and on the defensive end the Eagles were nearly immaculate. They only allowed four points in the first quarter, all to King’s Ashlyn Dowling, and surrendered just nine points in the first half.
While the Knights’ offense struggled to find the bucket in the first half, nine different Eagles scored before halftime. Richard Winn held a commanding 20-9 lead at the half, and the meager King offense only went downhill after the break.
The Knights tallied just one field-goal in third quarter, and then nailed another bucket in the fourth quarter for a total of just four points in the second half. The Eagle offense struggled in the second half, only scoring 11 points, but their smothering defense kept the lead safely intact.
The Eagles finished with a 14-5 regular season record and a 7-3 record in regional play. The two-seeded Lady Eagles will face number three Newberry Academy in the SCISA A-II Region Tournament on Friday at 4:00 in Greenwood. Richard Winn split games with Newberry in regular season play. The winner of Friday’s game will advance to the Region Championship against top-seeded Laurens on Saturday.
The SCISA State Tournament runs from Feb. 16 to Feb. 24.
RWA – 9-11-5-6 – 31
KA– 4-5-2-2 – 13
RWA: Lydia Wilder – 9, Taylor Spires – 5, Cassie McKeown – 4, Rayne Williams – 3, Meredith Pope – 2, Kim Albert – 2, Gracie Atkerson – 2, Calee Thigpen – 2, Kaitlyn Thoma – 2.
KA: Emme Buzhart – 5, Lhei Dubose – 4, Alex Mitchell – 4.