Gilmer's Gospel

Just a quick update.

It's Dorman 32, Spring Valley 28 at halftime of the 4A girls basketball upper state finals.

There were 10 lead changes in the first half. The largest lead was a seven-point lead by Dorman (30-23) at 3:11 left in the second quarter.

Ashlen Dewart is leading the way for Dorman. She scored the team's first eight points (including two 3-pointers) and had five rebounds.

Fanchon Sartor had five points and Mikala Scott had eight points. Scott's points including a four-point play, which I'm not sure if I've seen one of those in a while.

Play was stopped for a while due to a problem with the score. It was fixed and play resumed.

Dorman is trying to win this game to advance to its seventh straight title game appearance.

More to come ...
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I forgot to mention that former NBA player Xavier McDaniel is in the crowd watching his daughter, Spring Valley freshman Xylina McDaniel. She was all-state this year. I see why.
I think that Xavier could still play. Or at least block someone out.

With 5:46 left in the third quarter: Dorman 36, Spring Valley 30.

Not a huge turnout for the girls game, but some Gaffney fans have already trickled in for the boys game. Another sports writer just quipped that Sagebrush in Gaffney could close early because the town is going to be here.

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Mikala Scott and Allison Karabinos each knocked down 3-pointers, so with 3:17 left, Dorman is up 44-34. Dorman is 6 of 11 from 3-point range.

As I typed that, Scott hit another. That's 7-for-12 for those keeping track at home.

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Dorman had a 13-point lead with 2:50 left. Spring Valley went on a 10-0 run before Dorman's Lauren Moore hit a short jumper to stop the run with 20 seconds left.

Dorman leads 49-44 at the end of the third quarter.
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5:42 left in the contest. Dorman 53, SV 45.
Karabinos has hit a jumper and Sartor drove baseline for a bucket.
A timeout has been called.
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Back-to-back turnovers by the Cavaliers lead to four straight points by Spring Valley. Dorman's lead is now 53-49.
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Spring Valley just called timeout. The Vikings had scored four unanswered points before Dewart found Karabinos wide open on a backdoor cut for a lay-up. Dorman 57, Spring Valley 53.
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Spring Valley scores with 1:22 left, then a Dorman turnover and a lay-up from Spring Valley makes it 57-57 with 1:15 left. Dorman turns it over again, Spring Valley calls a timeout and is passing the ball around the top of the key with less a minute to go.
Spring Valley's Asia Dozier drives to the hole with less than 10 seconds, hits the bucket and gets fouled. She's going to the line with 5-seconds left and Spring Valley is up 59-57. Dozier hits the free throw. Score now 60-57.
Sartor is fouled on the inbounds play. Dorman calls timeout with :03.1 left. The inbounds pass is turnoverd. Spring Valley wins 60-57.
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On to the boys game. I'm writing a girls story, but will try to update it as I can.

Josh Corry has already hit a 3-pointer and just went to the rack and got fouled. Gaffney leads 10-6 with 3:00 in the first quarter.

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The first quarter just ended and Gaffney has doubled up Northwestern and leads 16-8. 

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Halftime score: Gaffney 27, Northwestern 14.

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I'm not going to write that this game is over yet, but the fat lady is warming up her vocal chords. Gaffney leads 51-30 with just under a minute to go in the third quarter.
The press is forcing turnovers, Corry is hitting big shots and the Indians are getting after it under the glass.
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Scoring update: Corry has 15 points with 7 minutes to go and Jeffrey Brown has 12.I think my math is right on that. Maybe I'm off. Math was never my subject.
Gaffney is up 53-34 with 6:40 to go.
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And she just sung.

Gaffney 68, Northwestern 46. The Indians advance to next week's 4A state championship. see you in Columbia.

 

     The Spartanburg Day School won a buzzer beater last night to Gaston Day School in order to play in today's NCISSA state semifinals.
     It's the fourth trip to the final four in six years for the Griffins.
     The Griffins won the game on a buzzer beater by Stefan Leonhardt.
     Congratulations to the Griffins.
    You can read more about the story HERE in a story on the Gaston Gazette Web site.

     My car was parked in the back corner of the Burger King parking lot in Newberry when the phone started ringing.
     I was trying to write my game story from Landrum's win over Williston-Elko, but I wanted to know what happened elsewhere, too.
     Herald-Journal writers were leaving different venues across the Upstate and were calling to tell me about games.
     Kevin Melton called and the roar from behind him made it hard to hear. He was at the Greer-Daniel game.
     “Incredible,” he said. “Greer overcame a 24-point deficit to win on a last-second shot by Chris Dean.”
     I reached Matt Connolly, who covered the Dorman-Greenwood game, while he was eating at Sugar and Spice.      He told me a little about his game, which wasn’t much of a contest.
     Staff writer Eric Boynton called to tell me about his game and to find out who the Gaffney Indians would play.
     I wasn’t the only person looking for scores. I sat in the stands with Boiling Springs basketball coach Glenn Reese and both of us kept getting and sharing updates from other local games.
     Phone calls continued today, but this time coaches had to endure them as fans, fellow coaches and others called with congratulations.
     Greer coach Jeff Neely said Wednesday afternoon that he was letting his team enjoy the win today before getting back to business for a couple of days of practice.
     “They’re pretty excited today, pretty jacked up,” he said.
     Neely said he didn’t have much trouble getting to sleep because he was exhausted from the game.
     That wasn’t the case of Landrum coach Lyn Smith.
     “I did not sleep any last night!!!” Smith wrote in a quick e-mail this afternoon. “Our school and community is going crazy over this!”
     Dorman coach Kristy Ray was at school this morning checking e-mails and getting ready to go find some game film of her opponent, Spring Valley.
     Game film won’t be too needed for Gaffney coach Mark Huff. His Indians face a familiar foe, as they will play Northwestern, a team they’ve already beaten twice this season.
     Congratulations to all of the local teams still alive in the playoffs. Look for more coverage of the upcoming upper state finals on Thursday and Friday.
 

 

 

     Gaffney football coach Phil Strickland has been named the head coach for the North team in the S.C. Automobile Dealers Association North-South all-star game.
     Strickland will coach in the game on Dec. 12 at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach. The coaching staffs were announced this morning.
     Strickland has been a head coach at four in-state high schools, compiling a 236-64 record and winning five state championships. His team has been the state runner-up on three occasions.
     Strickland coached at Ridge Spring-Monetta (34-13), Brookland-Cayce (5-7), Batesburg-Leesville (131-25) and Gaffney (66-19).
     Orangeburg-Wilkinson’s Tommy Brown will be the South head coach.
     Assistants for the North team will be: Scott Jones (Lugoff-Elgin), Lee Sawyer (Strom Thurmond), Don Frost (Christ Church), Joe Watson (J.L. Mann) and George Harrelson (Travelers Rest).
     Assistants for the South team will be: Carlos Cave (Battery Creek), Andy Palmer (Edisto), Ken Cribb (Hemingway), Tony Smith (Stratford) and Marty Harper (Midland Valley).

 

Senior Kelly Mullins leads the Landrum Lady Cardinals in scoring. She will lead her team into battle tonight against Hunter-Kinard-Tyler in the third round of the 1A playoffs. (Photo by Tim Kimzey)

    Not a lot of schools can admit to being in the position Landrum High School is in today and Tuesday.
     The school has the chance to have its boys and girls basketball teams in the upper state championships this weekend at the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville.
     Three other schools – J.L. Mann (3A), Southside (2A) and Hunter-Kinard-Tyler (1A) – also have the same opportunity in the upper state.
     In the lower state, Goose Creek (4A), Myrtle Beach (3A) and Timmonsville (1A) could also place two teams in the state semifinals.
     This won’t be a first for the area, as Broome did it in 2005 and ’06. Both Centurions teams played for state titles those years.
     This is one of the best years for each Cardinal program.
     The girls play Hunter-Kinard-Tyler at 7 tonight at Newberry High School, while the boys will travel to the same venue at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night to play Williston-Elko in its third round game.
     “It’s really exciting around here. A fun time of the year,” boys coach Lyn Smith said.

     Landrum’s leaders
     Girls
     Points per game: Kelly Mullins 12.8, Victoria McDowell 11.4, Jordan Jenkins 6.9, Jordan Corn 6-7, Rosaruth Parton 5.2
     Rebounds per game: Kelly Mullins 7.8, Jordan Corn 7.2, Jordan Corn 5.0
     Assists per game: Kelly Mullins 3.0, Rosaruth Parton 2.8
     3-pointers hit: Victoria McDowell 42
     Steals per game: Victoria McDowell 3.4, Rosaruth Parton 1.6, Kelly Mullins 1.4

     Boys
     Points per game: Alex Wilson 21.2, Jacob Hatchette 12.6, Shaun Hall 12.3, Dustin Morris 9.1, Jake McClure 9.0, Corey McDowell 6.0
     Rebounds per game: Alex Wilson 12.0, Corey McDowell 7.4, Dustin Morris 5.5
     Assists per game: Shaun Hall 6.8, Dustin Morris 2.9, Jacob Hatchette 2.5
     3-pointers hit: Jacob Hatchette 35, Shaun Hall 20
     Steals per game: Shaun Hall 3.6, Dustin Morris 2.2


Jacob Hatchette is one of Landrum's top scorers. He's hit 35 3-pointers this season and will be one of the Cardinals' leaders in tomorrow night's third-round game against Williston-Elko. (Photo by Tim Kimzey)