Latta’s #22 Jessica Evans drives down the court in Saturday’s second round playoff game against Denmark-Olar. (Photo by Johnnie Daniels/THE DILLON HERALD.)
Latta’s Lady Vikings capped a week of wins on Saturday night, earning the Region 8-A girls title and sweeping the first two rounds of Class A girls basketball.
After the winter storms forced schedule changes, the Lady Vikings ended up hosting three back-to-back region games to determine the region championship. Latta kicked off the week with a 58-28 win over Lake View on Monday and a 73-15 win over Green Sea-Floyds on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the Lady Vikings hosted Johnsonville and earned a 55-27 win over the Lady Flashes to claim the Region 8-A title.
Latta took an 18-3 lead in the first quarter and was ahead 26-9 at the half. The Lady Vikings sealed the win by outscoring Johnsonville 29-18 in the second half.
Jessica Evans led the Vikings with a team-high 21 points and picked up three rebounds with four steals. TaKeria Legette added 11 in the win with 11 assists, seven rebounds, and three steals. Brittany Burgess scored eight with seven rebounds and four assists; Iyonna McKenzie earned six points with a rebound and an assist; Mallory Townsend added four points with 11 rebounds and a steal; Maya Wright scored three with 11 rebounds, two assists, and one steal; and Margaret Desser scored two with three rebounds and a steal.
Johnsonville was led by Cayley Gunter with 10 points. Crystal Williams added 8; Ard, 6; Graham, 2; and Coles, 1.
Latta’s #23 TaKeria Legette passes in Thursday’s first round playoff game against East Clarendon. (Photo by Mark King/THE DILLON HERALD.)
TaKeria Legette led the Lady Vikings with a game-high 28 points and Jessica Evans added 24 in the win. Brittany Burgess added eight points and Mallory Townsend scored four.
East Clarendon was led by Ty’Quasha Kennedy with 11 points. Rose earned 8; Altman, 3; Green, 2; and Shaw, 2.
The win advanced the Lady Vikings to the second round, where Latta hosted Denmark-Olar on Saturday night for a 76-41 win.
Jessica Evans scored 22 points and Brittany Burgess added 21 in the win to lead the Vikings with TaKeria Legette earning 11 and Mallory Townsend scoring 10. Maya Wright added six points and Margaret Desser contributed two for Latta.
Ta’asia Wright led Denmark-Olar with a game-high 32 points. Jessica Davis scored five, and Tyneka Sanders added two in the effort.
The Lady Vikings improved to 16-4 overall with the wins.
Latta must now prepare for the third round, which will likely be one of their most difficult games of the season. The Lady Vikings will host Region 7-A champ Timmonsville tonight at 7:00 p.m. to determine who will advance to the lower state championship game on Saturday, March 1.
Timmonsville is currently 21-4 overall and picked up a 62-31 win over Lake View on Thursday and a 59-34 win over Cross on Saturday in the first rounds of the Class A playoffs. Timmonsville’s Sade’ Eli led the Lady Whirlwinds in both games, grabbing a career-high 19 rebounds in the win over Cross. Eli has a career total of 2,615 points and she has helped lead the Whirlwinds to a state title and three lower state title appearances in her six years playing varsity basketball.
In the other lower state bracket, Baptist Hill is set to host Hemingway. The winner of that game will advance to the lower state title game.
In the upper state, St. Joseph’s will host McCormick and Ridge Spring-Monetta will host Lamar to determine who advances to the upper state championship.
