Category Archives: Sports
County hoops teams prepare for postseason
COUNTY — The South Carolina High School League basketball playoffs begin this week, and Pickens County schools will be well represented, with each of the four county schools having a team in the chase to bring home a state championship.
In Class 2A, the Liberty girls’ basketball team (6-17, 4-6 Region I-2A) faces the toughest challenge of any of the county teams as it will travel to face off with top-ranked Keenan High School (15-6, 7-0 Region IV-2A) on Wednesday. The Raiders are led by the 13th-ranked girls’ basketball senior in the country, Milaysia
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Daniel finishes regular season with sweep of Tigers
By Bru Nimmons
Sports Editor
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
CENTRAL — Hosting Crescent for senior night on Feb. 7, both Daniel High School basketball programs were able to pull out victories to close the book on the 2022-23 regular season.
Opening up the slate were the Daniel girls, facing off against the then region-leading Tigers. Despite having already been eliminated from playoff contention after a
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PHS Scholar-Athletes
Pickens High School’s January Scholar-Athletes of the Month are Christian McCrady (wrestling) and Emmaleigh Stone (varsity basketball). The pair were recognized at Friday’s home basketball game against Easley. This month’s award was sponsored in honor of longtime girls’ basketball coach Butch Morris. McCrady is the son of Gregory and Valerie McCrady. Stone is the daughter of Rory and Kristin Stone.
Liberty downs Abbeville in round two
LIBERTY — Ranked atop the South Carolina Class 2A high school wrestling standings, the Liberty wrestling team opened its playoff run in the second round on Saturday against the Abbeville Panthers after receiving a first-round bye.
The Red Devils lived up to their lofty ranking, taking down the Panthers in less than 20 minutes with a 78-6 win.
“We know we’re going up against some pretty tough teams, but we’ve built a pretty good resume this year,” Liberty head coach Dale
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Blue Flame boys beat Easley for first time in two decades
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — Just one week removed from its first region win in 62 games, the Pickens High School boys’ basketball team entered Friday’s contest against archrival Easley hoping to break an even longer against the Green Wave.
With a scorching start, the Blue Flame controlled the game from the opening whistle to beat Easley 69-56 — Pickens’ first win over the Wave in more than two
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Easley girls stun Pickens
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — In many ways, Friday night’s matchup between the sixth-ranked Pickens and 10th-ranked Easley girls’ basketball teams was meant to be a coronation for the Blue Flame.
With a win, Pickens would clinch its first-ever region championship, and it seemed like the Blue Flame were well on their way to victory until a fourth-quarter runput
the Green Wave ahead 39-38 in the waning seconds. With just five seconds left and a chance to
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Daniel boys top Seneca, win first region title since 2013
CENTRAL — After taking CENTRAL — After taking the lead halfway through the second quarter of its Jan. 30 matchup with Seneca, the eighth-ranked Daniel High School boys’ basketball team took seemingly every punch the Bobcats had to stay ahead.
With the lead down to 54-47 with less than four minutes to go in the final quarter, it seemed like the Lions might never fully put Seneca away. That was until junior wing Erik Lipsey fought his way into the lane through immense defensive pressure before hitting a spinning layup that energized the home crowd and gave the Lions the push they needed to pull out a 66-58 win and move into pole position in the Western
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Lady Lions upset ninth-ranked Razors
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
CENTRAL — Up 48-46 with 20 seconds to go, the Daniel High School girls’ basketball team’s hopes of upsetting the ninth-ranked Walhalla Razorbacks on Jan. 24 rested on senior guard Destiny Hoover.
At the line for a one-and-one opportunity, the Hollins University commit had confidence in her shots due to the faith of her teammates
“They were encouraging me and counting on me,” Hoover said. “I just knew I had to get them in there.”
Hoover did just that, sinking both free throws before getting a steal on the inbound and hitting two more
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Daniel destroys 10th-ranked Walhalla
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
CENTRAL — According to Daniel High School boys’ basketball head coach Ben Touchberry, the ninth-ranked Lions upped their practice intensity following a loss to 
Pendleton on Jan. 17, leading to instant results in a 40-point win over Crescent a few days later. However, the real test for Daniel was on Jan. 24 against the 10th-ranked Walhalla Razorbacks.
The Lions (15-7, 4-2 Western 3A) passed that test with flying colors with a 74-37 decimation of the Razorbacks at home to move back to the top of the region standings alongside Walhalla and West-Oak.
“The guys are starting to get a little hungry and they’re staying locked in defensively,” Touchberry said.
The Lions’ defensive pressure was readily seen in the result, as they held Walhalla (11-7, 4-2) to their third-lowest scoring output of the season.
“They played great defense, and we really didn’t handle that well,” Walhalla coach Bobby Norizsan said. “They shot well, they defended and they rebounded well — and those are three pretty big things to win in basketball.”
The Daniel defense helped set up things for a big offensive night, with four players scoring in double figures for the Lions. Still, the Lions’ biggest contributor on the court — according to Touchberry — was guard Jaylen Brown-Wallace.
The senior set the table for the Lions offensively with seven assists while flashing highlight plays like a steal and dunk in the fourth quarter.
“Jaylen Brown-Wallace is emerging not just as a leader, but as a vocal leader,” Touchberry said. “He leads in all facets of the game, whether he’s getting in passing lanes, rebounding or distributing. He’s just a very unselfish kid.”
Brown-Wallace’s leadership was on display from the start, as he hit a three-pointer, drew a charge and assisted Ian Williams’ basket to help the Lions jump out to a 21-9 lead in the first quarter.
In the second, Daniel guard Simms Disbrow added 10 points, allowing the Lions to boost their lead to 39-14 at the break. The hits kept coming for Walhalla in the third as Daniel’s Brady Jones matched the Razorbacks’ scoring output for the entire quarter behind a trio of three-pointers.
The Razorbacks finally managed to show some life offensively in the final quarter, but with the Lions making 11 threes on the night, it wasn’t close to enough as Daniel pulled out the win.
While heeding Touchberry’s advice about taking things one game at a time, Brown-Wallace says the Lions know the importance of every game down the stretch.
“We’re in the final half of region,” Brown-Wallace said. “Everything is going toward our goal of winning region.”
The Lions stayed hot with a 35-34 win over West-Oak on Friday night.
Daniel 74, Walhalla 37
WHS 9 5 9 14 — 37
DWD 21 18 14 21 — 74
Daniel (74) — Disbrow 13, Lipsey 13, Jones 12, Anderson 11, Williams 9, Brown-Wallace 6, Smith 5, Carrington 3, Young 2.
Walhalla (39) — Porter 13, Richardson 6, Beesley 5, Williams 4, Hunnicutt 3, Lusk 3, Shepard 3.
