Prep roundup, Dec. 29: Seahawk Duals set to commence at HHH
All five Beaufort County wrestling teams will get a chance to square off against some not-so-familiar foes when the Seahawk Duals get underway Wednesday at Hilton Head Island High.
Battery Creek, Bluffton, Beaufort and Whale Branch will join the host Seahawks in the 17-team field, which drew several participants from the Upstate as well as three other states.
"It's good to have some variety there," Hilton Head coach Mike Newton said. "It's a good opportunity to wrestle teams that you don't see on a weekly basis. Competing through the holidays is something I've always believed in."
There's a fair chance the champion will be someone from Beaufort County. Battery Creek is the back-to-back Class 2-A state champion and ranked No. 2 by wrestling website SCmat.com; Beaufort is No. 4 in Class 3-A and Hilton Head is fifth.
The Seahawks also are coming off a sixth-place finish at the Coastal Clash megameet in North Charleston, which brought together 56 teams in the Southeast's largest sanctioned high school tournament.
"We wrestled real well this past week," Newton said. "Hopefully it will continue."
A stiff challenge figures to come from Bamberg-Ehrhardt, currently No. 1 in Class 2-A and winner of three straight titles until being dethroned by Battery Creek.
Every county team except Beaufort will wrestle in Wednesday's early sesson, which begins at 11 a.m. Beaufort takes the mat starting at 4 p.m.
Thursday's competition begins at 9 a.m. for the lower nine teams in the standings, followed by the eight championship-bracket teams starting at 2:30 p.m. Admission is $6 each day.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Battery Creek 61, Calhoun County 57: Isaiah Mayes scored 26 points and pulled down nine rebounds Monday as the Dolphins took their second win of the Orangeburg County Sweet 16 Tournament.
Markell Smalls added 13 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Adonis Williams chipped in eight points and seven assists for Battery Creek. The Dolphins sought their third straight win of the tournament Tuesday night against Columbia High.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Summerville 47, Battery Creek 26: Brianna Tolbert's 14 points accounted for more than half of the Dolphins' scoring, as they dropped Monday's opening game of the Carolina Invitational in Charleston.
Battery Creek (4-4) also got five points from Taquasia Lampkin and four from Jayden Thompson. Next up was a Tuesday game against Clover High.
Carolina Forest 44, Beaufort 31: The Eagles went cold in suffering their first loss. They were held under double digits in three of Monday's four quarters to finish their Carolina Invitational opener with by far their lowest point total of the season.
No Beaufort player scored in double digits, as Naijuia Moyd led the way with eight points. Imari Smalls, Brittany Whitmore and Terayah Williams added six apiece. The Eagles (9-1) next drew St. Stephen Timberland on Tuesday.
This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 12:36 AM with the headline "Prep roundup, Dec. 29: Seahawk Duals set to commence at HHH."