Przybyla signs with Carolina soccer after getting grades in order
Last semester probably wouldn't rank among the best for Brian Przybyla. The former Sumter High School soccer standout was taking classes at the University of South Carolina Sumter watching the University of South Carolina soccer team capture the Conference USA championship and make the NCAA tournament. What was so painful for Przybyla? He could have been there celebrating with his future teammates. "It was horrible," Przybyla said. "Just the feeling that I could be playing with them; I couldn't bear to watch it." USC head coach Mark Berson offered Przybyla in high school and Przybyla had the full intention of enrolling in the fall. The grades were just short for Przybyla and he had to put a hold on his plans. Luckily for him, Berson held his offer. After Pryzbyla completed 30 hours at USC Sumter, he enrolled in Columbia and has finally filled his scholarship.
Hastie, Tindal lead Sumter to 75-63 victory over Foxes
Sumter High School's varsity boys basketball team got its senior celebration started off right against Hartsville Tuesday. The Gamecocks jumped to a 25-12 lead over the Red Foxes by the end of the first quarter and rolled to a 75-63 victory before a fired-up crowd at the SHS gymnasium.
The Sumter High School varsity girls basketball team wrapped up its second straight Region VI-4A championship Friday with a solid 47-32 win over West Florence at the Sumter High gymnasium. The Lady Gamecocks remained perfect in region play at 8-0 and improved their overall record to 19-3. West Florence fell to 4-4 in region play and 9-10 overall. “We’re missing one of our starters, and we’re missing our sixth man,” said Sumter head coach Jeff Schaffer. “Ashley Rouse has a knee injury and is out for the season, so I was a little bit leery about what was going to happen tonight, to be honest. I needed somebody else to step up. “We’re kind of limping into the playoffs with injuries, but I thought the younger kids responded extremely well tonight.”
Sumter High School’s varsity boys basketball team rebounded from its worst performance of the season with one of its finest Friday at the Sumter High Gymnasium. The Gamecocks cruised past West Florence 89-26 to improve to 18-4 and 7-1 in Region VI-4A.
If the Sumter High School varsity boys basketball team is able to pull off a victory against Marlboro County today in Bennettsville, it will — for all practical purposes — do something it hasn’t done since the 1995-96 season: win a region title.
The Sumter High School varsity boys basketball team hasn't had many challenges this year on the basketball court. Whether it wanted one or not, it got one Friday against a surprising South Florence team. With games usually put away by halftime, the Gamecocks had to play all four quarters and managed to put away a pesky Bruins team 57-44 at the SHS gymnasium.
On the verge of going 5-0 in Region VI-4A for the first time under third-year head coach Nathan Livesay, the Sumter High School varsity boys basketball team didn't waste anytime making sure it happened Friday.
The Gamecocks built a 25-3 lead after one quarter and were up 42-9 at the half en route to an easy 70-41 win over Conway Friday at the SHS gymnasium.
"I think it's (the region race) going to go down to the wire," said Livesay, whose team improved to 16-3 overall and holds a 1-game advantage over Marlboro County in the region. "The second time through everyone is playing better. Conway was playing well coming into this game. Obviously, Hartsville and Marlboro County are very good."
Sumter's Sean Whetsel opened the game with a 3-pointer, but Dron Allen answered with a trey of his own to tie the score just seconds into the first quarter. That was all Conway scored until the second quarter.
Sumter, on the other hand, had no trouble generating offense. Guards Derrick Hastie and Dontae Middleton combined for seven points and five assists in the quarter.
Chris Moore / The Item Sumter's Erica Butler (20) battles Conway's Latifa Lowery for a rebound in the Lady Gamecocks' 55-42 win Friday at the SHS gymnasium.
Sumter High School's Lillian McGill spent 16 minutes, 50 seconds on the bench in foul trouble, and the Lady Gamecocks scored just seven points in the third quarter.
That is usually not a recipe for winning for Jeff Schaffer's girls, but solid defense and Erica Butler stepping up in place of McGill helped SHS take control of Region VI-4A with a 55-42 win over Conway Friday at the SHS gymnasium.
With McGill on the bench, Butler grabbed a game high 14 rebounds to keep Conway post player Jessica Bryant in check. Although the 6-2 Bryant scored 15 points, she managed just seven rebounds thanks to Butler.
"Erica Butler stepped up and had a great game," said Schaffer, whose team moved to 18-3 overall and 5-0 in the region. "We have been missing that. We haven't had anyone rebounding consistently except for Lil. She picked a great time to step up and do the job she is capable of doing."
Sumter outrebounded the Lady Tigers 32-23.
The Lady Gamecocks began the third quarter with a 33-18 lead, which was abruptly cut to 11 after McGill picked up her third foul just 1:24 into the half. The Lady Gamecocks didn't score their first points of the quarter until Butler converted a layup with 3:01 remaining.
Conway couldn't gain any ground however because it was having its own problems on offense. Not only did Sumter record six of its 13 steals in the quarter, the Lady Tigers shot just 3 of 12 from the field.
Conway head coach Kelvin Galloway, whose team fell to 10-4 overall and 3-2 in the region, felt his team's inability to take advantage of McGill's foul trouble was a major factor in the game. With no one on Sumter's bench near the height of Bryant, the Lady Gamecocks had to use two and sometimes three players on her.
Sumter High School varsity boys head coach Nathan Livesay said neither he nor his staff made specific mention to the Gamecocks that in Tuesday’s foe, Marlboro County, they were facing a team that is the 6-time defending Region VI-4A champion and played for the state title last season. “We didn’t say anything, but I know the players were talking about it amongst themselves,” Livesay said. It showed. After getting off to a slow start, SHS used an oppressive defensive performance to limit the Bulldogs to just 35 points in a 48-35 victory at the Sumter gymnasium. “We got off to a slow start offensively and defensively in the first quarter,” said Livesay, whose team improved to 13-3 overall and 2-0 in region play. “I was happy with the way we came back, and we played great defense after that.”
The Sumter High School varsity girls basketball team made a concerted effort to get the basketball into the hands of center Lillian McGill in the second half of its game against Marlboro County Tuesday at the SHS gymnasium, and it paid off.
All it took was finding the right fit for Abram Ludd. Ludd, who played basketball for Sumter High School, got a scholarship offer to North Greenville College upon graduating in 2003. After one season at North Greenville, however, Ludd knew something needed to change. "The school (North Greenville) was OK," Ludd said. "I just felt that the school wasn't a fit for me. I felt I wanted to come closer to home."
Chris Moore / The Item Sumter's Kelton Tindal goes to the basket against the defense of Richland Northeast's James Barfield (12) and Herb Martin in the Gamecocks' 47-40 win Wednesday at the SHS gymnasium.
Sumter High School's varsity boys basketball team had fallen to Richland Northeast twice in December.
Using able rebounding and playing solid defense Wednesday at the SHS gymnasium, the Gamecocks ensured that the Cavaliers would not have their way a third time, breaking through with a 47-40 victory to close out non-region play for the season.
The Gamecocks, who lost 53-39 at RNE Dec. 4 and again by a 63-51 score on Dec. 15, hammered away at their Columbia opponent in the second half after the Gamecocks led 20-18 at intermission.
"We were up five going into the fourth quarter with these guys the last time we played them," said Livesay, whose team improved to 11-3 on the season. "We talked about in the second half coming out and playing with the same intensity and the same purpose that we did in the first half, but executing better.
"Our intensity was good in the first half, but the execution was very poor. In the second half we did a better job of getting them stretched out and getting the shots that we wanted."
Indeed they did. While those shots for both teams were difficult to come by, the Gamecocks outscored the Cavs 27-22 in the second half to secure the win.
"They just physically outplayed us," said RNE head coach Jason Powell, whose team dropped to 11-3. "They outmanned us, shot the ball better than we did, got all the lose balls; they did all the little things you need to do to win basketball games like this. We didn't do that."
RNE small forward Lucas Hargrove, who signed recently with Auburn, put up a game-high 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Cavs. The efforts of the 6-6 Hargrove, however, were not enough as the Gamecocks outrebounded RNE 35-24.
"We controlled the glass with a couple of exceptions at the end," Livesay said. "When we rebound, we have a chance to be a pretty good team. We played terrific defense for the most part and that was the key. Other than Hargrove, we did a great job of limiting them."
Derek Hastie led the Gamecocks with 13 points. Kelton Tindal had 11.
The teams' third matchup of the season was a defensive struggle from the beginning.
RNE took a 12-9 lead by the end of the first quarter and with L.B. Carmichael's two foul shots to open the second quarter, the Cavaliers held a 14-9 lead.
