WARDLAW TEAMS READY FOR PLAYOFF SEEDS

Gerald Doolittle • February 13, 2025

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WARDLAW TEAMS READY FOR PLAYOFF SEEDS

By: Gerald Doolittle

Contributing Writer

Johnston, S.C. – At this writing the Wardlaw Academy varsity girls and boys basketball teams are waiting for their playoff seedings to be announced.

At this writing, the Varsity Girls coached by Kristina Graves are playing for the SCISA Region 3-A tournament Championship against Richard Winn Academy. The Lady Patriots (11-8) earlier had won the Region 3-A regular season Championship. Richard Winn finished the regular season 8-7.

The Wardlaw varsity boys coached by Austin Spurlock will carry a 7-14 record into the playoffs after losing to Newberry Academy in the tournament semi-finals.

Coach Spurlock hopes his team can end a two- game losing streak entering the post-season. His Patriots finished the region regular season in second place behind Richard Winn Academy (16-3).

The Patriot offense has been led by the trio of Colt Bailey (sr), Noah Harper (sr) and Resse Harper (so). Bailey leads the scoring with 355 points followed by Noah with 302. Resse has 163 points.

All three in the three-guard offense can destroy their opponents from behind the arch. Noah has made 59 three- point shots followed by Reese with 29 and Bailey with 28.

The Patriots have recorded 540 rebounds led by Bailey with 107. Jackson Smoak (sr) follows with 98. Jake Winn (so) and Josh Bussey (sr) follows with 81 and 80.

Reese and Bailey leads in assists with 55 each. Bailey leads in steals with 38 followed by Reese with 31. Bussey leads the block shots with 18 followed by Smoak with 16.

Rounding out the Patriot roster is Collin Holsonback (sr), Michael Martin (sr), Andrew Smith (fr) and Cooper Davis (so).

Coach Graves varsity girls has been led by Seniors Maddie DeLoach, Hailey Holmes and Liz Park. The Patriot Juniors are Taylor Hill, Katherine Trotter and Brianna McNeil. The two Freshmen are Lillie Stocum and Kate Griffith.

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