Laurens Academy basketbll teams reach SCISA AA tournament semifinal games
Crusader boys make furthest trip into postseason since winning state title in 2015
Laurens – It was a good season for both of the Laurens Academy basketball teams this year.
The Lady Crusaders made their usual run to the Final Four of the SCISA state tournament, losing in the AA semifinals to defending state champion Cross Schools. The boys also made a push to the semifinals where they fell to now 3-time defending state champion Cathedral Academy. This, however, was the Crusaders’ first trip to the semifinals since winning the Class A state title in 2015.
The girls finished with a 24-3 overall record while the boys went 17-12.
The Lady Crusaders reached the semifinals for the fifth consecutive season. They were led by eighth-grader Braylee Burke, who was selected as the Region 4-AA Girls Player of the Year.
Burke led Laurens in scoring with a 12.5 points-per-game average, making 56 3-point field goals on the season. She grabbed 6.5 rebounds and had 2.8 assists and 2.5 steals.
She was joined on the All-Region team by sophomore Sadie Bruyere, sophomore Mackenie Runyans and senior Madisyn Graham.
Bruyere, who was also selected to the AA All-Tournament team, averaged 10.2 points, shared the team lead in rebounding with Burke at 6.5 and had a team high 3.5 steals.
Runyans led in assists at 3.9 while averaging 7.5 points and 4.3 rebounds.
Eighth-grader Brooklyn Senn was also a key contributor. She averaged 9.0 points and 3.3 rebounds. She connected for 40 treys.’’
With Graham and Taylor Cagle the only seniors on the roster, head coach Jason Marlett is excited about the future.
“We have a young team, and they had a great season overall,” Marlett said. “They have nothing to hang their heads about. All my girls are multisport athletes, and they will go compete in spring sports so we will try to get better for next year.”
Laurens’ 6-foot-5-inch senior center Garrison Vaughan was selected as the Region 4 Boys Player of the Year. He just missed averaging a double-double, scoring at 13.8 points per game while pulling down 9.3 rebounds.
He was joined on the All-Region team by senior Braydon Burke and sophomore Micah Strait. Burke averaged 11.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists, while Strait averaged 6.5 points and a team high 4.0 assists.
Other key contributors were junior Caleb Hardy and junior Chancey Watkins. Hardy grabbed 5.1 rebounds swhile scoring at a 3.6 clip. Watkins averaged 5.8 points and 3.8 rebounds.
