By Thomas Grant Jr.
After two postponements, the long-awaited Region 5-5A showdown between Ridge View and Blythewood occurred Saturday.
Both schools were coming off victories Friday to ensure a doubleheader featuring four teams undefeated in region play.
Blythewood was the site of the first of two meetings in the next six days. The girls’ game went in favor of the host team by a 59-46 score, while the top-ranked Blazers defeated the Bengals 64-52.
The rematch is set for Friday at Ridge View. It’s also the final Rush’s High School Hoops Game of the Week airing on WACH 57. Blythewood is idle until that date, while Ridge View traveled to Sumter Tuesday.
(Girls Basketball)
Blythewood 59, Ridge View 46
An individual milestone was achieved as the Lady Bengals continued their winningest season in program history.
The first quarter saw the Lady Blazers jump out to a 16-11 advantage. Anasia Harvey scored nine of her team-high 13 points in the first half.
Blythewood closed the gap in the second quarter behind preseason All-State selection Chase Thomas who had a game-high 26 points.
The second quarter saw Blythewood impose its full court pressure to slow down Ridge View. Guards India Williams and Hayley Hightower helped disrupt the Lady Blazers’ offense and neutralize their size advantage.
A 13-2 run towards the end of the half put Blythewood ahead 34-22. A 3-pointer by Iyana Lewis brought the Lady Blazers to within 34-25 at the half.
“We switched up our defense,” Blythewood head coach Emily McElveen said. “The second quarter, we went man-to-man. We got out that zone which created some intensity, which led to some turnovers which is how we play.
“We play the transition game. So that man-to-man defense is what got it all started. So that switch of defense changed the momentum of the game, which is what changed in the second quarter.
Blythewood continued this strategy in the second half. This stretched their lead to 48-33 at the end of the third quarter.
A 5-0 run by the Lady Blazers brought them within 10 points. The Lady Blazers answered with a 10-2 run which included a basket by Williams with 4:52 left.
The game was stopped in order to recognize the junior guard’s 1,000th career point. She was given flowers and took a photo with head coach Emily McElveen.
Williams finished with 16 points.
Blythewood improved to a program-best 23-1 overall, 11-0 in the region.
(Boys Basketball)
Ridge View 64, Blythewood 52
Even as the Blazers appeared to have control of the game, one area still concerned head coach Joshua Staley.
The game’s physical nature saw both teams rack up the personal fouls. By the end of the game, the teams combined for 48 personal fouls called with each receiving a technical.
“We were just hoping we’d have more players left than them at the end of the game,” he said. “But it was physical. That’s how the refs were calling it.”
Ridge View’s torrid shooting to go with the smothering defense enabled it to take a 24-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. All-State forward Korie Corbett went 8-9 from the free-throw line in the first half in leading the Blazers with 20 points.
Yale Davis scored 10 of his 15 points in the first half and Malachi Cooper hit three, three-pointers to finish with nine. As for the Bengals, leading scorer T.J. Lewis struggled from the field through the first three quarters.
He scored 10 points of his first 14 points from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, Ridge View increased its lead as many as 27 points in the fourth quarter.
“We wanted to come out with intensity,” Staley said. “We wanted to be able to contend. We know that T.J. Lewis and Tauris Jr. scores at a very, very high clip. We respect it at a high level, so we were trying our best make every shot tough and defend at a high level.”
Lewis picked up his offense in the fourth quarter. He scored nine of her team’s 15 points in the final period to finish with a game-high 23 points.
Staley turned his immediate attention to Tuesday’s road game at Sumter. He wanted his team to focus on finishing stronger than it did against Blythewood.
Photo by Thomas Grant Jr.
