Lee Academy basketball teams start slow

        By Dennis Brunson

           Hssr.com Associate Editor

           Bishopville – Both the boys and girls basketball teams for Lee Academy got off to 1-3 starts, but neither of the head coaches are close to making a determination on what the season holds for their squads.

“I am really excited about the team we have for this season,” said boys head coach Kemp DeWitt, who is in his second season at Lee. “We return four players that gave us crucial minutes last season. Brayden Davis, Cain June, Gavin Makela and Paxton Greene give me a solid base surrounded by the new faces we have this season.

“We look to find our identity as a team before we head into Christmas break, so we can come out strong when region play starts.”

Davis, a sophomore point guard, and June, a senior small forward, are the two returning starters. Davis was averaging 9.3 points per game, while June was scoring at a 9.0 clip.

Makela is a junior center while Greene is a senior shooting guard. The other starter is junior power forward Aiden Fitzgerald. Greene was averaging 6.3 points, Fitzgerald 3.5 and Makela 1.6.

Other members of the boys team are senior Collins Drayton, junior Cannon Hopkins, who was averaging 5.0, junior Tucker Rodgers, junior James Watson, junior Matthew Inabinet and junior Keegan Gainey.

Girls head coach Kim Langston, a decades-long veteran of the SCISA wars, said she hadn’t seen enough of her team to form an opinion.

The Lady Cavaliers are young with just one senior starter in Mazie Tomlinson. The other starters are junior Mallori Frye, sophomore Karagan Melton, freshman Kaisley Melton and eighth-grader Beth Whiteside.

Karagan Melton was the leading scorer with a 9.5 average to go with 3.8 rebounds. Tomlinson was averaging 6.3 points, 3.3 steals, 4.3 assists and 9.5 boards, Whiteside was at 5.0 points, 1.0 blocked shots and 6.8 rebounds, Frye was averaging 2.0 points and 3.3 rebounds, and Kaisley Melton was averaging 2.3 steals, 2.3 points and 2.5 rebounds.

The rest of the roster includes sophomore Emma Beasley, senior Sara Bell, senior Zana Brazell, senior Raylee Catoe and junior Addie Grace Wilkes.

4 CAVALIERS FOOTBALL ALL REGION

The Lee football team had four players selected to the All-Region 1-Class A team.

The selections were wide receiver/linebacker Cain June, senior quarterback/defensive back Andrew Bowers, senior offensive lineman/defensive lineman Hampton Layton and senior linebacker/running back Tucker Boyce.