BASKETBALL: West Laurens girls stop skid, boys edged again in rematches with Westside

The West Laurens Lady Raiders busted out of an eight-game losing streak, and likely took out some frustration from some recent heartbreakers, in a 59-28 victory to open their home split with Westside of Augusta Tuesday night. 

The Patriots’ two-time defending state champions got another battle out of the Raider boys, but broke open a virtually even game in the latter portion of the fourth quarter to claim a 82-73 win, and maintain their No. 2 spot in the region 4-AAA standings. 

West Laurens was set to be back in action Friday night at Howard. 

The Lady Raiders (4-13, 3-7 region) ran away with the first game from the jump, with Gabby Carswell and Maddie Ridgeway bombing 3s as part of an eight-point opening run that would stretch to a 14-0 start. 

Westside picked up a bucket or two toward the end of the first quarter, but trailed 20-4. 

The West Laurens girls – led by the 20 points of Brooklyn Jackson and 17 of Ridgeway – continued to control the pace in a slightly less productive second quarter, heading to halftime up 30-9, but chalked up 17 against a third-straight single digit in the next-to-last stanza. Reserves on either side traded a total of 26 in the fourth. 

The Raider boys (6-10, 3-7 region) were right with Westside down the stretch of another tight one, but had a second-straight fourth quarter get away against the talented Patriots, who capitalized on a West Laurens season high in turnovers to manage a couple of key runs at just the right time to take control of the ballgame. 

The Raiders again held early leads – of a commanding seven points at the half, and by one at the close of the first and third – in a back-and-forth affair that could have gone either direction. 

Ahead 52-50 a few minutes into the last set of eight, West Laurens fell slightly behind as the visitors mounted a 6-0 run comprised of a technical foul free throw, followed by a 3- and 2-point field goal to go up by four. 

The Pats – paced by the 28 points of Dontrell Jackson – held the lead from that point on, though they wouldn’t completely pull away until scoring eight unanswered in about a 90-second stretch around the 4-minute mark. 

Aldrion Jones, Westside’s third-leading scorer with 14 points, pulled up for a slam dunk off a turnover following buckets on back-to-back trips. A third-consecutive steal, and fast-break layup by Jayden Adkinson, ensued to increase the spread to 14. 

The gap grew to 18 on two more field goals, following free throws tied to a West Laurens technical foul at 2:20 to go. 

Some late-game jawing continued on the opposite side, and officials handed out multiple techs to Westside that allowed the Raiders to make up some ground at the line, and then from the field on the other side of a free throw bonanza to make it an 11-point game. 

But there wasn’t enough time for a full-scale rally, and West could only get the game back as close as nine.

“It was a tough one we let slip away,” West Laurens boys head coach Izell Stephens said. “I knew they would come out in the second half and make a push. We committed more turnovers in this game than we have all season, and you cannot expect to win when you turn the ball over. Closing games out is something we have to get better at and not have mental errors that will cost us down the stretch.”

Zyinn Martin led the four Raiders to reach double figures with 19 points. Nas Jones added 16, R.J. Whipple 14 and Mark Fordham 10.