By Thomas Grant Jr.
After a weather delay, the basketball edition of the “Battle of Irmo” took place Friday.
Dutch Fork was the site for the first hardwood meeting with archrival Irmo. Both visiting teams looked to snap losing streaks and get back to .500 in the Region 4-5A standings.
For the host teams, it was an opportunity at bragging rights as well as maintaining a share of first place in the region. The Lady Silver Foxes are in a 3-way race with Lexington and White Knoll, while the boys team looked to keep pace with River Bluff.
The Irmo teams found themselves on the losing ends of lopsided outcomes.
In the girls’ game, Dutch Fork rolled to an 87-35 victory. The Lady Yellow Jackets (10-8, 1-3) trailed for most of the game and got the bulk of their offense from guard Abby Livington with 18 points and Lailah Singletary with 10.
Conversely, the Lady Silver Foxes (15-2, 3-1) had five players in double figures. Guard Michaela Fairwell had a game-high 24 points, followed by Trinity Crumlin with 14, Taylor Monroe with 12, Kyla Niles with 11 and Irmo transfer Claire Howard with 10.
The boys’ game saw Dutch Fork as equally dominant against Irmo. Scoring the game’s first eight points, the Silver Foxes jumped out to a 24-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Justus Bell outscored the entire Irmo roster with nine of his 13 points in the opening quarter.
“Great first quarter,” Dutch Fork head coach Bret Jones said. “It helps when you hit shots and we were pumped up. It helps when you hit shots. Our defense was excellent.
The Yellow Jackets trailed as many as 25 points in the second quarter. They outscored Dutch Fork 28-25 in the second half, led by Tanner McCray’s 11 points, before suffering their third straight loss by a 60-44 score.
Samajee Govan had 21 points, including four 3-pointers, and Bryson Taylor added 11 to lead the Silver Foxes (14-5, 4-0).
“I hate that we cruised from then,” Jones said. “But still, it’s hard to get high school players for 32 minutes to play hard. We’re trying to do that. We’re trying to get them a little more killer instinct to finish the plays out, which we finished it. But I’d liked for them to do a little bit better.”
The Dutch Fork boys now turn its attention to Tuesday’s visit to The Swamp. It’s a coaching matchup between Lexington alums Jones and River Bluff’s Benjamin Lee.
Jones’ nephew, guard Cooper Jones, also plays for the Gators.
Irmo (11-7, 1-3) returns to action Wednesday at home against Chapin.
GIRLS SCORE
Lexington 70, River Bluff 42
BOYS SCORE
River Bluff 64, Lexington 32
Photos by Thomas Grant Jr.
