BLYTHEWOOD – Westwood’s basketball teams took care of Lugoff-Elgin on Tuesday at The Castle.
The girls’ team started the night off with a dominant first quarter. They led 21-7 after the first and extended their lead to 40-15 by halftime.
The Demons put up their biggest offensive numbers of the night in the third quarter, but Westwood outscored them 19-13. The Redhawks added 15 more in the fourth quarter to seal up the game with a 74-37 win.
Westwood flexed their youth in the win – sophomore Kamirra Clarke put up 21 points in the Redhawk win over Lugoff-Elgin. Aneya Britt, a freshman, had 12 points, and Teoni Cummings, also a freshman, had nine.
The boys team followed with a 67-52 win, their second region win of the season. Junior Larry Brown led scorers with 17 points. Senior TJ Bell followed with 15 points, three rebounds and three assists. Mike Balkman had nine points and five assists.
Both Redhawk teams opened the 2024 portion of the season at A.C. Flora on Jan. 5.
The girls fell behind by 11 in the first quarter and weren’t able to rally, dropping the region game by just three points. Senior Makiah Thompson led with 24 points. Britt had 13. Destiny Omeire, a junior, and Kimauri Chatman, a senior, both had nine points.
The Redhawk boys (13-1) beat Flora with a decisive 72-59 final. Bell put up 23 points in the win. Balkman and Dontae Walters had 12 points each. Walters also had 13 rebounds in the win.
Westwood’s girls got back into the win column on Saturday with a 14 points defeat of Lower Richland in the MLK Bash.
Up 15-8 after a quarter, Lower Richland worked to close the gap but still trailed 21-15 at halftime. Westwood outscored the Diamond Hornets 18-13 in the third, but Lower Richland came on strong in the final quarter, outscoring Westwood 16-11. Their efforts came up short as the Redhawks took the 50-44 win to move to 12-6 on the season.
Omeire had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds; Thompson put up 12 points and had five assists on the night.
Both Westwood teams head to Ridge View tonight for region games. The girls will tip off at 6 p.m. and the boys will follow at 7:30 p.m. Both Ridge View teams are 2-0 in region play; the boys are 16-0 on the season.
