By Thomas Grant Jr.
Dutch Fork finds itself in position to sweep Region 4-5A in boys and girls basketball.
Both teams can clinch their respective top seeds with a victory Tuesday at River Bluff or the home finale Thursday against Irmo.
They moved themselves in that position with a sweep at Lexington.
The Lady Silver Foxes defeated the Lady Wildcats 59-36 in a matchup of co-leaders.
Avani Adams scored 17 points to lead Dutch Fork, which looked to avenge a 2-point home loss two weeks ago.
In that meeting, Dutch Fork trailed as many as 24 points. In the rematch, Lexington jumped out to a 11-4 lead before the Silver Foxes used a 12-2 run to take a 16-13 lead.
Jamia Gerald scored nine of her 13 points during the rally.
With 2:42 left in the second quarter, Lexington tied the game at 21-21. It would not score another field goal for close to 10 minutes as Dutch Fork scored 26 unanswered points.
The key, according to head coach Candace Bush, was the pressure defense which created turnovers and helped open up their offense.
“Defense, but then we started hitting outside shots,” she said. “We start hitting outside shots which helped a lot and like I tell them all the time, once your defense picks up, then the basket opens up for you.”
The same number also represented the Lady Silver Foxes’ biggest lead of the game. A free throw by Braidi Goodrich ended the scoring run, leaving Lexington down 47-22.
Dutch Fork made sure the Lady Wildcats would not mount a similar comeback as it did in the first meeting.
“We played better this game than the last game,” Adams said.
The boys also broke open a close game early against Lexington. Led by the scoring of Samajee Govan, Dutch Fork turned a 1-point game into a 35-21 halftime advantage.
Govan scored 14 of his 25 points in the first half. Carolina Challenge selection Justin Bell nearly matched him with 24 points, 13 in the second half.
With Irmo’s 53-51 loss to White Knoll, Dutch Fork is in position to win the region at River Bluff Tuesday or against the Yellow Jackets Friday.
Lady Yellow Jackets
end losing streak
After four straight losses dropped the Irmo girls from first place, it got back on the winning track Friday against White Knoll.
The 66-46 win was led by the double triple-double performance. Lailah Singletary finished with 25 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists and junior guard Abby Livingston had 23 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.
Both players also had six steals and Tiana Randall added 16 points.
The Lady Yellow Jackets traveled to Chapin Tuesday as the two teams battled for third-place.
As for the Irmo boys, it looked to hold on to second place to end the regular season. Friday’s loss left it a game ahead of Lexington and White Knoll in the region standings.
While a sweep of Chapin and Dutch Fork would clinch second, one loss or more could drop the Yellow Jackets to fourth place.
Christian Brown scored 24 points and Khiry White added 11 for Irmo in defeat.
Photos by Thomas Grant Jr.
