Richard Winn freshman Bailey Taylor speeds past her Calhoun defender and drives toward the basket. (Photo/Martha Ladd)
RWA basketball squads are on the attack
WINNSBORO – Both Richard Winn Academy’s Eagle varsity basketball teams are off to a good start thus far in the early season. The defending state SCISA 2A State Champion Lady Eagles are back with eight of the returning members of that squad and are showing no signs of weakness in any part of their game. Currently they are 8-0 on the season, while their counterparts, the varsity boys, are 5-3 so far. The boys team lost three players to 2013 graduation, but are fundamentally sound with nine returning players and a couple of ninth-graders who were brought up from last year’s middle school squad.
The Eagle teams have a busy week of three games, two of which are road trips to Laurens and Johnston. This past Monday’s home games against Whitmire High School were re-matches of games played the Monday prior at Whitmire. Both times the Eagles teams were victorious.
So far coach Jason Haltiwanger’s Lady Eagles haven’t met with much competition as their full court press and man defense forces the opponents into turnovers that the Lady Eagles easily convert into points on the scoreboard. The RW boys, however, have been working a little harder to earn their victories, and have already played two overtime games.
On Dec. 6, Calhoun Academy of St. Matthews came to the Eagle’s Nest and split victories. After having previously beaten the Cavaliers in St. Matthews, the RW boys lost this one, 52-46, in the final minutes due to costly turnovers and missed free throw opportunities. Senior Patrick Pope was the only Eagle to reach double digits, scoring 18 points. Cameron Cooper had the next highest total with 8.
Monday night’s game against Whitmire’s Wolverines was another tough game for RW, but this time the Eagle team got back into the win column, 50-39. In a game that went back and forth in the first half, coach Joe Pitt’s Eagles stepped it up a notch during the second half and controlled the final two quarters of play. Pope again led the RW scorers with 19, and Joseph Goldin followed with 9.
The Lady Eagles have been holding their opponents to low scoring totals as they continue to earn victory after victory. Senior standout Carson Justice led the scoring for Richard Winn against the Calhoun Lady Cavaliers with 16 points. While Junior Jessie Stidham was the only other RW player to reach double digits with 12, seven members of the squad recorded points in the scorebook in this 47-16 win.
Against the Lady Wolverines, the RW girls jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. The final of 61-6 clearly indicates another dominate performance by the Lady Eagles. However, as of press time, no stat totals were available.
The Eagle teams, middle and varsity, all traveled to Laurens on Tuesday to face the Laurens Academy Crusaders and will make another road trip on Friday to square off against the Patriots of Wardlaw Academy in Johnston. The RW varsity teams will host Union County HS teams on Monday, Dec. 16, beginning at 6 p.m.