WINNSBORO – Richard Winn’s basketball teams faced two region opponents, Laurens Academy and Newberry Academy, in recent competition with a slate of three more back-to-back games this week following the press deadline.
On Jan. 28, the Eagle teams traveled to Laurens, and even though the Laurens’ guys put up a big fourth quarter scoring rally, the RWA boys hung tough and brought home the narrow 47-44 victory. The RWA girls suffered a 7-point loss to the Lady Crusaders, 31-38.
Lone senior Mikaela Miller carried the Lady Eagle team offensively with 14 points in the region loss at Laurens. Meagan Brigman contributed 8 points, Delaney Young had 5, Brinson Baker added 3, and Abby Lewis rounded out the scoring with 2. Laurens’ players Olivia Huck and Rylee Howard led the Lady Crusaders’ offense with 15 points each.
In Tuesday’s home contest against the other Eagles from across the county line, head coach Emily McElveen’s Lady Eagles matched up well in the first half against the defending state champion Newberry team, only trailing by four points at halftime, 15-19. With only 44 seconds of action into the third period, Miller nailed a 3 pointer to narrow the deficit to just 1 point. However, a strong 20 point third quarter performance by Newberry, led by Daja Taylor’s 12 points, widened the gap as they outscored RWA 32-16 in the second half. The 31-51 loss dropped the RWA team’s region record to 1-5 and 5-6 overall.
Miller again led the Eagles’ scoring with 15, followed by Brigman with 6, Young 4, and Baker and Emma Steed added 3 each. Newberry’s Taylor topped scorers with 27.
Head coach Nick Chaisson’s guys earned two region wins over Laurens and Newberry to improve to 7-1 in the region, 13-4 overall.
The Eagles faced an unrelenting Laurens team on the road who rallied to score 25 points in the final period and hold the visiting Eagles to 9, but the Eagles had strong first and third quarters of action to stymie the Crusaders late rally.
Lawson Wade led the Eagles with 15 points in their 47-44 victory over Laurens. Wade and Miller Stuck each had 6 rebounds, while Stuck added 9 assists and had 4 points. Landon Caulder had 12 points and 3 rebounds; Drew Spires had 11 points and a rebound.
Richard Winn continued their winning ways against the Newberry on Tuesday with a 58-35 region victory. The home Eagles controlled the game from tip-off by scoring 14 points and holding the visitors to just 2 in the opening quarter. Even though Newberry outscored RWA 12-10 in the second quarter, Richard Winn increased their 24-14 halftime lead with a big 22-point third quarter to Newberry’s 9. The Newberry team was unable to close the gap in the final period.
Once again Wade topped scorers with 17 while also snagging 5 rebounds, 5 steals, blocking 2 shots, and earning 1 assist. Spires scored 10, had 4 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. Stuck added 9 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 block. Wilson added 8 points. Caulder led the rebound category with 8 and contributed 5 points, 2 assists, and a steal. Newberry’s Ryan Brown and Evan Graves led the visiting team with 9 points each.
The Eagles compete again against Laurens at home on Wednesday (2/2), travel to Johnston on Thursday (2/3) to rematch against Wardlaw, and host Cambridge on Friday (2/4). Friday’s game will also be celebrated as Senior Night for Mikaela Miller and Edward Clement. The two seniors will be recognized between the varsity girls’ and varsity boys’ games at approximately 7:30 p.m.