Northwestern and Lancaster see strong finishes, plus all Rock Hill-area basketball scores
The fans on hand in Lancaster High School’s gym on Friday night expected to see a show of entertaining basketball between two of the more promising programs in the Tri-County.
And those fans didn’t go home disappointed.
Lancaster and Northwestern faced off on Friday night: The Northwestern girls defeated Lancaster, 59-52, and the Lancaster boys defeated Northwestern, 67-56 — both games seeing impressive and strong finishes.
On the girls’ side, Northwestern fell behind early but used a 20-5 run that started in the third quarter and spilled into the fourth to take the win. That run was among the best stretches the Trojans had played all year — it was fast and fun yet notably patient.
This kind of game is proof of Northwestern’s versatility.
“We went small for a while there,” Northwestern head coach ShaRon Robertson told The Herald postgame. “Normally we play big because we have three (post players). They got into foul trouble early, so we had to tell our younger girls and smaller girls, ‘Hey, we still gotta play, this is your time to step in.’ And they kept us where we needed to be.
“We went into the fourth quarter down by one point, but when we were able to get our starters back in, we told them, ‘We gotta finish the game.’”
And they did finish.
A critical change occurred early in the fourth, when the Trojans moved to a halfcourt press that saw a slew of Darby Grigg steals turn into points.
Grigg, like the junior guard has all season, played well on Friday night. She finished with 21 points, hitting one 3-pointer and going 10-for-16 from the free-throw line. She was helped by seventh-grade 6-foot forward JaNiya Cunningham (12 points), McKenzie Evans (nine) and Alayah Ervin (nine) in scoring — and Grigg can also credit DeKayla Starr, a starting forward who found herself in foul trouble early but loomed large on defense in the fourth quarter, for a ton of her good-defense-turned-easy offense.
Robertson also credited Lancaster, a group led by Ny’Keri Asia Coleman (15 points), Eliza Baskins (11) and KeMarja Peay (12).
“We’re learning how to finish,” Robertson said of her team. “And I think that’s going to be really important when we open region play on Tuesday.”
On the boys’ side, Lancaster was perhaps outsized (like the scrappy group regularly is), but the Bruins’ guards were equal parts disciplined and exciting on Friday night — and their play was enough to deliver an important win before region play begins next week.
The man leading the way for Lancaster — particularly in a second half where the Bruins outscored Northwestern 36-25 — was Grayson Kirk. The senior guard finished with a team-high 26 points. Several of his buckets came in the form of fourth-quarter layups that broke the back of Northwestern’s desperation press toward the end of the game.
The team appears to go as Kirk goes — and he was on Friday night, particularly toward the game’s end.
“He plays inspired a lot of times, and I mean, he’s tough,” Lancaster head coach Jerron Cauthen said of Kirk postgame. “I’ve coached a lot of tough kids. And he’s right up there with him. He has some personal goals, but his personal goals are really his team goals, you know what I’m saying?”
The Bruins were also led by Zy Moffatt (17 points), Jy Gladden (eight).
“They love the gym,” Cauthen said. “The wins that we’ve had this year are direct results of the work we put in over the summer, during the fall. We just have a great basketball environment.”
Northwestern was led by 6-foot-6 forward Jayden Boyd (23 points), Joey Tindale (13) and Jalen Burnett (eight).
Girls basketball scores this week
Monday
Clover 46, Spartanburg 19
Tuesday
Northwestern 34, York 26
Fort Mill 74, Indian Land 45
Andrew Jackson 49, Cheraw 31
Wednesday
South Pointe 43, Clover 21
Marvin Ridge 69, Nation Ford 25
Catawba Ridge 65, South Point (NC) 40
Friday
Fort Mill 54, York 41
Northwestern 59, Lancaster 52
Cheraw 38, York Prep 33
Boys basketball scores this week
Monday
York Prep 67, Legacy Early 62
Spartanburg 35, Clover 32
Tuesday
Fort Mill 61, Indian Land 57
Andrew Jackson 81, Cheraw 27
Wednesday
Clover 54, South Pointe 47
Nation Ford 53, Marvin Ridge 45
Catawba Ridge 73, South Point (NC) 61
Friday
Lancaster 67, Northwestern 56
York Prep 89, Cheraw 28
Girls region standings
Region 4-5A: Rock Hill 12-3, Spring Valley 8-4, Northwestern 7-4, Ridge View 4-9, Blythewood 0-11.
Region 3-5A: Gaffney 10-4, Clover 9-5, Boiling Springs 5-8, Fort Mill 6-10, Nation Ford 3-11.
Region 3-4A : Catawba Ridge 13-1, Lancaster 8-4, South Pointe 8-5, Indian Land 4-6, York 4-11.
Region 4-3A: Lower Richland 13-1, Fairfield Central 8-1, Keenan 10-2, Mid-Carolina 9-3, Chester 1-7.
Region 4-2A: Chesterfield 2-0 (9-1 overall), Andrew Jackson 2-0 (9-3 overall), Buford 1-0 (2-4 overall), Cheraw 2-2 (4-7 overall), York Prep 1-2 (3-6 overall), North Central 0-2 (4-6 overall), Pageland Central 0-2 (1-7 overall).
Region 2-1A: McBee 3-7, Lewisville 1-8, Governor’s School 0-2, CA Johnson 0-5, Great Falls 0-6.
Boys region standings
Region 4-5A: Northwestern 9-4, Rock Hill 9-5, Ridge View 6-8, Spring Valley 6-8, Blythewood 6-8.
Region 3-5A: Fort Mill 12-4, Clover 11-6, Boiling Springs 10-7, Gaffney 6-8, Nation Ford 5-9.
Region 3-4A: Catawba Ridge 15-2, Lancaster 14-2, South Pointe 5-4, Indian Land 4-7, York 3-10.
Region 4-3A: Keenan 7-7, Chester 3-7, Fairfield Central 2-7, Mid-Carolina 2-12, Lower Richland 1-8.
Region 4-2A: York Prep 3-0 (13-0 overall), North Central 2-0 (9-1 overall), Andrew Jackson 1-1 (10-4 overall), Pageland Central 1-1 (5-5 overall), Buford 1-1 (5-7 overall), Chesterfield 1-2 (6-4 overall), Cheraw 0-4 (3-15 overall).
Region 2-1A: Governor’s School 2-1, CA Johnson 5-5, Great Falls 5-7, Lewisville 1-7, McBee 0-7.
South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association Top 10 (Jan. 5)
5A girls: 1. Dorman, 2. Lexington, 3. Sumter, 4. Rock Hill, 5. Stratford, 6. Dutch Fork, 7. Stall, 8. Cane Bay, 9. Woodmont, 10. Spring Valley
5A boys: 1. Dorman, 2. Riverside, 3. Fort Dorchester, 4. Ridge View, 5. Northwestern, 6. Mauldin, 7. Byrnes, 8. Sumter, 9. TL Hanna, 10. Goose Creek
4A girls: 1. Westside, 2. Catawba Ridge, 3. North Augusta, 4. Aiken, 5. South Florence, 6. AC Flora, 7. Westwood, 8. West Florence, 9. Walhalla, 10. South Pointe
4A boys: 1. Irmo, 2. AC Flora, 3. Catawba Ridge, 4. Lancaster, 5. Wilson, 6. Hartsville, 7. West Florence, 8. Travelers Rest, 9. Greenville, 10. South Pointe
3A girls: 1. Keenan, 2. Lower Richland, 3. Blue Ridge, 4. Orangeburg-Wilkinson, 5. Southside, 6. Emerald, 7. Clinton, 8. Camden, 9. Aynor, 10. Oceanside
3A boys: 1. Orangeburg-Wilkinson, 2. Seneca, 3. Brookland-Cayce, 4. Dillon, 5. Crestwood, 6. Blue Ridge, 7. Union County, 8. Powdersville, 9. Fox Creek, 10. Manning
2A girls: 1. Blacksburg, 2. Christ Church, 3. Silver Bluff, 4. Phillip Simmons, 5. Saluda, 6. Andrew Jackson, 7. Latta, 8. Chesterfield, 9. Gray Collegiate, 10. Barnwell
2A boys: 1. York Prep, 2. Wade Hampton, 3. Landrum, 4. Phillip Simmons, 5. Christ Church, 6. Andrew Jackson, 7. Woodland, 8. Gray Collegiate, 9. Greer Middle College, 10. North Central
1A girls: 1. Military Magnet, 2. East Clarendon, 3. High Point Academy, 4. Lake View, 5. Denmark-Olar, 6. Whale Branch, 7. Southside Christian, 8. McBee, 9. Cross, 10. Lamar
1A boys: 1. Scott’s Branch, 2. Calhoun County, 3. Hemingway, 4. Baptist Hill, 5. Carver’s Bay, 6. Calhoun Falls Charter, 7. Denmark-Olar, 8. Southside Christian, 9. Hannah-Pamplico, 10. Bridges Prep
Sam Copeland contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 8, 2022 at 12:26 AM.
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