Top Ranked Gaffney Girl’s Focused On Deep Div. II AAAAA Play-off Run, Boys’ Team Get Big Win Over Spartanburg

Billy Baker • February 10, 2025


By Billy G. Baker

Publisher

Gaffney—The HSSR Div. II AAAAA Gaffney Lady Indians basketball team (21-2, 9-2) will host Riverside on Tuesday February, 11 (as the HSSR had just gone to press) and the winner of that region game will likely claim top seeding in the upper state Div. II AAAAA basketball bracket along with earning a region title.


“If we win the game against Riverside, everything takes care of itself and we are the region champions,” said veteran head coach Mark Huff wo has won six state titles as a boy’s head coach. “We lose and a lot of situational things happen. Byrnes still has to play Riverside on Friday.”


Gaffney tuned up for their big game with Riverside with a thrilling 61-57 win over rival Spartanburg on February, 7. After trailing 32-26 at the half to the lay Vikings, Gaffney played much better in the second half to earn the victory.


“We took better control of the basketball in the second half and we shot the ball a little better also,” said Coach Huff. “We missed several close-in open shots in the first half and we also missed some free throws.”


Against Spartanburg, junior forward Shriah Harris paced the offense with 20 points and sophomore power forward TT Hopper contributed 12 points.


The team’s only two losses of the season came against Dorman (65-58 & 60-49).”For some reason, Dorman is a bad match-up for us,” said Coach Huff. “Dorman lost both times to Riverside and Byrnes this season.”


Coach Huff said he is not changing strategy going into the playoffs and Dorman will be competing in Div. I AAAAA in the play-offs.


“We are 21-2 so why should we change what has been working for the team,” he said. “For the most part we have been healthy this season. Lauren Mathis missed five games with a sprain knee and Izzy Sarratt had a case of pneumonia and missed two games. Everybody is well and we are focused on playing a great game against Riverside on Tuesday.”


In terms of this team having potential to win the Division II AAAAA girls state title at the Florence Civic Center in March, Coach Huff responded, “Yes, we have potential to win it but so do many other teams,” he said. “We got our hands full competing in the Division II upper state play- offs against teams like Riverside, Greenwood, Greenville, Fort Mill and TL Hanna.”


Having home court for the majority of the play-offs is a key reason to emerge as region champions. “Any time you can play at home in the play-offs, in front of your fans, you are better off,” said Coach Huff. “Avoiding 75 to 100-mile bus rides is also to your advantage.”


Coach Huff describes Harris as a versatile basketball player. “First of all, she has played all five positions for us at one time or another,” he said. “Her talents give us leverage in changing strategy during the course of a game. She makes it easy for us to adjust the line-up depending on who we are playing. It is really rare to have a player who can play all five spots.”


Coach Huff is also very high on sophomore TT Hopper. “She stepped up and carried the team on her back last season when we lost Harris mid-way for the season,” he said. “He went on to be the Region Player of the Year as a freshman and that does not happen very often.”


He is thankful that junior Korbyn Lydia (committed to play softball at USC-Upstate) can play either Wing slot. ”She can play shooting guard or Wing and we can adjust our strategy with her depending on where we might be in foul trouble.”


Coach Huff describes sophomore point guard Lauren Mathis as the quarterback of the team. “She’s a great team player and she makes us go,” said Coach Huff. “I call her the quarterback of the team. She is very unselfish and we missed her over the five games she was out.”


The team’s first person off the bench is usually freshman Kaylin “Kay Kay Howse. “She is a very good on-ball defender,” said Coach Huff. “She plays really tough. I say she has a little dog in her play.”


Then Sarratt can play multiple positions also. “Sarratt can play anywhere form one-three on the court and she is a slasher with good moves to the basket,” said Coach Huff. “She attacks the rim very well.”


As the regular season winds down Harris is the stats leader scoring 20.4 points a game including 8.3 rebounds with 2.8 assists and 2.5 steals a game. Hopper is at 15.8 points a game including 9.4 rebounds and 3.1 steals a game. Lydia is at 10.4 points and Sarratt is at 6.4 points per game, 2.7 rebounds, and she leads the teams in assists at 3.9 per game. Mathis is at 6.9 points a game with 3.4 assists and she has made30 three-pointers to date.


Coach Huff has never won a girl’s state basketball championship but he does have a solid team this season capable of bringing gold back to Cherokee County in a few weeks.


(Never bet against a Mark Huff coached team).


Gaffney Boy’s Have late Season Win Over Spartanburg 84-63

A huge 84-63 win over rival Spartanburg on February, 7th have kept Charles Blue’s Gaffney boys’ basketball team in contention for the play-offs pending what happens in the final game of the regular season.

“We have two games left next week but we feel good about our chances of making the play-offs after our amazing win over Spartanburg,” said Coach Blue. “When we had lost to Spartanburg earlier in the season we had eight players out with the flu.”

Against the Vikings, Zion Ratchford tossed in 25 points with 12 rebounds and three blocked shots. Deylen Whitaker had 18 points, 8 assists and five rebounds against the Vikings. Londin Bailey produced 10 points and five assists against Spartanburg.


“We have been without our top scorer (Rickey Littlejohn) the past two games due to a minor foot injury,” said Coach Blue nearing the end of his second season at Gaffney. “We expect him back for both our final regular season games this week.”   

    

Down the stretch of the season the Indians took wins over Boiling Springs (62-27), Eastside (64-54 OT), Wade Hampton (79-53) and the Vikings to keep their play-off hopes alive. They have a key region game against Riverside on Tuesday.


To date the stats leaders are sophomore point guard Rickey Littlejohn at 12,.7 points and 2.7 assists a game. Four players are between seven and eight points on the points per game chart. They are Deylen Whitaker (8 pts & 5.2 rebounds), freshman Zion Dawkins (7.8 pts & 2.9 reb)  along with senior Londin Bailey (7.6 points & 4.6 reb) and senior forward Kaleb Phillips (7.1 points & 4 reb.).

     

     

 


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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