COLUMBIA – Westwood basketball carved a huge notch on its win total Jan. 17.
That night Ridge View, sitting at No. 1 in the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association rankings, ran head on into the No.2 Redhawks at the Blazers’ gym. Westwood brought down the house with a 66-64 victory to take sole possession of first place in the Region 5-4A standings.
T.J. Bell scored 21 points and had 4 rebounds and four assists to lead Westwood (16-1, 5-0 Region 5-4A). Zion Brown had 12 points, four rebounds, four steals, and four assists.
Head coach Trent Robertson talked about his team’s desire after the game.
“Our guys, man, they’re tough. … They talk all the time about how they want this, and this and this, well tonight’s the perfect time to show them,” Robinson said. “You can’t do nothing better. You’ve got the No.1 team in the state. Y’all want to make a name for yourself, y’all want to dig your name out the hole, perfect opportunity right here.”
Ridgeview dropped to 17-1, 3-1.
The Redhawks followed up with a 50-39 victory over Irmo Friday and 60-52 over Richland Northeast Tuesday.
Bell led Redhawk scorers with 15 against Irmo. He had four assists on the night. Zion Brown added 10 points and racked up seven blocks. Larry Brown scored 9.
In the win over Richland Northeast, Bell put up 20 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. Larry Brown had 11 points and two assists; Zion Brown added nine points and had seven blocks.
The Westwood girls (14-7, 3-2) fell 54-39 to the Blazers, but beat Irmo 32-25 Friday night and Richland Northeast 48-20 Tuesday.
Against Ridge View, Makiah Thompson had 21 points, nine rebounds and three steals. Destiny Omeire had 12 points and seven rebounds; freshman Aneya Britt had 10 points and 19 rebounds.
Thompson and Britt led Westwood scorers with 12 each against Irmo. Britt had her fourth double-double of the season with 12 rebounds.
Si’Niya Curry scored 14 points against the Cavaliers on Tuesday. Thompson added 10 points, and Britt scored nine.
On Friday, Westwood’s girls look for redemption from an early three-point January loss to AC Flora. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at The Castle. Boys will follow.
Westwood will play at Lugoff-Elgin on Tuesday and host Ridge View on Feb. 2.
