Latta girls basketball team reaches quarterfinals of Class A state tournament

Dennis Brunson hssr.com Associate Editor • March 31, 2025

Kaliyah Herman selected as Region 6 Offensive Player of the Year

           Latta – Things could have gone better for the Latta High School gitls basketball team in its first season under head coach Bobby Richardson, but not by a whole lot. 

 

           The Vikings finished the year with a 19-7 overall record and finished second in Region 6-Class A with a 10-2 mark. They made it to the quarterfinals of the state playoffs as well.

 

           “The season as a whole was a great success being that I came in with a different identity for the team,” Richardson said. “It took a while before they bought in, but once it clicked we were off and running.”

 

           Latta was led by Kaliyah Herman, who was selected as the Region 6 Offensive Player of the Year. A junior, Herman led the team in scoring by averaging 18.5 points per game. She also led the team in steals at 5.7 to go with 2.6 assists and 5.3 rebounds.

 

           She was joined on the All-Region team by sophomore Jeziyah Page, who was selected as the region’s Sixth Man of the Year. She averaged 11.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, a team high 2.7 assists and 3.7 steals.

 

           Seniors Kardae McFadden and Azarriona McRae were also selected to the All-Region team. McRae was the leading rebounder at 8.8 while averaging 7.6 points 3.9 steals and 1.0 blocked shots. McFadden averaged 6.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 3.2 steals.

 

Latta’s only region losses were to Carvers Bay, which went undefeated in claiming the region crown. The Vikings defeated Cross 66-36 in the first round of the playoffs and followed that with a 64-43 win over Ridgeland in the second round. Their season came to an end with a 77-34 loss to eventual state champion Military Magnet.

 

           SHAYON MCGRUDER BOYS BASKETBALL ALL-REGION PICK

 

           Sophomore Shayon McGruder was Latta’s lone selection to the All-Region 6 boys basketball team.

 

           McGruder averaged 11.7 points to go with 2.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.5 steals for the Vikings, who were 11-14 overall.

 

           They finished 8-4 in region play for second place. Latta beat Baptist Hill 62-55 in the first round of the playoffs before falling to Hannah-Pamplico 75-63 in the second round.

 

           Second-year head coach Chris Page said his team got off to a slow start as it was hindered by injuries.

 

           “Once we regained our health, we began to improve and understand our roles,” he said. “That marked the beginning of our winning streak. However, we still have a long way to go to achieve our desired goal.”

 

           Junior Isaiah McRae led in rebounding at 6.3 while scoring at a 7.5 clip. Junior Adrian McDonald led in assists at 3.1 with a 4.5 scoring average. Junior Xymari Bethea averaged 8.3 points and 5.1 rebounds.

By Billy Baker April 23, 2025
By Billy G. Baker Publisher Bamberg —The Class AA HSSR third ranked Barnwell Warhorses and the Class A Bamberg - Ehrhardt Raider baseball teams have both already won region titles, and they will both host four-team district play-offs in early May, so they met in a play-off tune-up game on Tuesday night with Barnwell winning 12-1. The two teams also met on April, 9 with Barnwell prevailing 3-0 in that game. Barnwell senior ace pitcher Cameron Austin, a five time all-region and four-time all-state honoree , improved his record to 5-2 on the season working five innings against the Raiders. Austin had six K’s and allowed only four hits. On the season, Austin has worked 39.1 innings with 58 K’s with a 1.23 ERA. The top hitters for Barnwell in the win were outfielder Tommy Reid with two hits, while Austin collected three RBI’s and scored two runs. Three players, Hayden Pierce, senior catcher Kaleb McCormack, and third baseman Trey Boleman , each had one hit and one RBI respectively . Carl Hines added a hit also. Bamberg was hampered by giving up 10 walks and four errors during the game. The Raiders were led at the plate by left-fielder Weston Stokes who went 2-of- three. He also saw late action on the mound. The team’s other two hits came from second baseman Dakota Black and center fielder Brent Amaker . The starting pitcher for B-E was Cooper Sandifer who worked 4.2 innings, giving up three hits with six K’s. After the game, Barnwell head coach Cody McCollum shared some thoughts with the HSSR. “We always have a good chance of winning with Cameron on the mound, especially when he is throwing strikes, and the guys are playing good defense behind him; and we are swinging the bats well,” said Coach McCollum, who played baseball at Barnwell where he graduated in 2012. “They walked a lot of guys tonight and that helped us too. “Winning the region was something I talked about with the boys at the beginning of the season because I felt like this team was good enough to go undefeated in the region,” said Coach McCollum. “We fell a little short last year, losing a region game to Edisto, and that stuck in the back of our heads, and this year our expectation was to go 10-0 in the region. “Our other internal goal is to win at least 20 games before the playoffs start and we are 18-4 right now, with four games left,” said Coach McCollum. “We need to win at least two more. We play Batesburg - Leesville tomorrow, (April, 23), South Aiken twice next week, and Woodland one more time. We are going to try hard to get two more wins.” Coach McCollum said that Austin, batting .468 with 26 RBI’s and six home runs, has played more third base, when not pitching this season. “Before I came back to Barnwell last year, I was at Hampton, and I had to coach against him, and I glad he is now on my team. He’s a very good player.” Coach McCollum said Barnwell has relied on Austin, and three other seniors for most of the load this season. “We have a sophomore and a freshman starting in the middle, and we have two sophomore starters in the outfield, and a junior started in center field tonight,” said Coach McCollum. “We are kind of young and old at the same time. “The other seniors are Kaleb McCormack , our catcher, who has improved his hitting this season along with and Trey Boleman who started at third tonight and Hayden Pierce was at first tonight, and he hit a double off the wall. Kaleb is a very good on defense behind the plate and we feel good about him, behind the plate, regardless of who is pitching.” Case Davis is a freshman starting shortstop with a .411 batting average. Pierce is at .390 and McCormick is at .289 with 16 RBI’s and a .999 fielding percentage. Joe Huggins is the DH and he is hitting .367. Sophomore Dakota Black starts at second. Tommy Reid is a junior center fielder currently batting .333.  Vincent Gibson is a sophomore in the outfield for Barnwell. Jax Mead is a sophomore starting at second base. Caiden Roland is the sophomore starting right fielder. Some additional Barnwell pitching depth has come from, Pierce (5-0, 35 K’s, ERA 2.54), along with Bradley Richardson (2-0, 9 K’s), Boleman (26-K’s) and Davis (24 K’s with a 1.07 ERA). After the game, Bamberg Ehrhardt (8-6) head coach Gene Schwarting told the HSSR, “We have three 8 graders who start for us, two 9 th graders, one sophomore, a junior and two seniors so for the most part we are a young team,” said Coach Schwarting. “Our two seniors, Weston Stokes and Brent Amaker are co-captains” Stokes is the team’s number one pitcher. Stokes started in left against Barnwell and batted lead-off. Amaker started in center and batted third. Nasi Singleton, an 8 th grader , will typically start in the outfield and Garrett Wade usually starts at third base. Chip Brewer, or Stokes, will start at short and Dakota Black is at second while 8 th grader Chase Collins holds down first. Asiel Graham is usually the starting B-E catcher, backed up by Davis Ehrhardt . Singleton is the top hitter for the Raider at .477 and 8 RBI’s. Stokes is at .410 and 12 RBI’s. Black is third on the hit index at .333 and 15 RBI’s. Other top hitters include: Amaker (.317 with 17 RBI’s & a HR), Wade (.306 & 10 RBI’s) along with Cooper Sandifer (.300 & five RBI’s). Stokes has 26 innings pitched with 48 K’s. Sandifer has worked 22.1 innings on the mound with 38 K’s, and Brewer has 14 innings pitched to date with 25 K’s. “In terms of our pitching this season, it has been pretty good, but at times it has also been like a roller- coaster,” said Coach Schwarting. “We will pitch well one game, and not so well the next game. We also need to improve on our timely hitting before we start the play-offs also. “The other night we lost to Orangeburg Prep 6-3, and we left the bases loaded in the second, third, fourth and 5 th innings,” said Coach Schwarting. “”We have to get stronger in our hitting, up and down the line-up, one through nine. “Our pitching has been outstanding, our defense has been solid, and we just need to do a much better job getting hits with runners on base,” said Coach Schwarting, a Bamberg-Ehrhardt graduate now in his 7 th season as the Raiders head coach.
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