Sumter, Lee Central reach upper state finals

The Sumter High School girls basketball team and the Lee Central girls advanced to the upper state finals with wins on Monday in their respective state playoffs.

Sumter defeated Woodmont 57-54 in their third-round game in the 5A state playoffs. The Lady Gamecocks will play Spring Valley at 5 p.m. on Saturday at Bon Secour Arena in Greenville.

Lee Central knocked off Saluda 50-40 in a third-round road game in the 2A playoffs. Lee Central will take on Christ Church on Friday at 4 p.m., also in Greenville.

USC Sumter loses 3 of 4

The University of South Carolina Sumter baseball team lost three of four games played on Saturday and Sunday at Riley Park.

The Fire Ants, who are 5-6 on the season, lost to Wake Tech 8-7 on Saturday before rebounding for a 2-1 win over Harford Community College. On Sunday, however, USC Sumter lost to Harford 7-0 and to Wake Tech 5-4.

In the Saturday loss to Wake, Kaleb Strader hit a 3-run home run to lead the USCS offense. Tyler Mangum had a hit and two runs batted in, while Vince Hanna had two hits, including a double, and scored twice, and Payton Young had a hit, two runs and an RBI.

Chandler Sox took the loss, falling to 1-1, giving up one run in two innings.

In Saturday's second game, Daniel Twitty pitched five innings of 1-run ball to get the win. Twitty, the former Sumter High School standout, scattered five hits while striking out four, walking one and allowing five hits.

Tristen Campbell pitched 1 1/3 innings to get the save.

Sumter managed only two hits, one of them an RBI double by Wynston Dyer. Former Lakewood High standout Chandler Hunter had the other hit, and Hanna scored the other run.

In Sunday's loss to Harford, four Harford pitchers combined to shut out the Fire Ants.

Strader had two hits to lead Sumter.

In Sunday's loss to Wake, Sumter managed six hits. Jakob Woods had two hits, scored a run and drove in a run. Hanna had a hit and an RBI, Young had a hit and a run, and Kyle Kalick and Tyler Turner both scored a run.

Jonathan Kagielski took the loss, giving up five runs, three of them earned, in 4 1/3 innings.

USC 3

Liberty 2

COLUMBIA -- The University of South Carolina baseball team gave up two first-inning runs, but battled back to win 3-2, scoring the winning run on a wild pitch with no one out in the ninth innings on Sunday at Founders Park.

The Gamecocks won the season-opening series 2-1.

The Gamecocks did not get their first hit until the fourth inning when TJ Hopkins smashed a home run high into the bleachers in left field to cut Liberty's lead to 2-1.

The Gamecocks kept the momentum going into the fifth when Andrew Eyster singled off the right field wall. Nick Neville followed that up with a double off the wall in left-center to put runners on second and third with no outs and a chance to tie the game.

Noah Campbell did just that as he got an RBI on a slow rolling fielder's choice to second, driving in Eyster and knotting the game at two runs apiece.

Carolina's bullpen did not allow a hit, keeping the game tied at two until the bottom of the ninth. Luke Berryhill led off the inning by drawing a walk. Jacob Olson then hit a blooper just out of reach of the middle infielders that advanced Berryhill to third. On the very first pitch of Quinntin Perez's at-bat, Garrett Price threw a wild pitch to allow Berryhill to come home for the game-winning run.

USC 96

Florida 77

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Alexis Jennings scored a season-high 22 points, Bianca Cuevas-Moore added 19 and Destanni Henderson had 18 in leading No. 11 South Carolina to a 96-77 victory over Florida on Sunday.

Tyasha Harris added 11 points and 10 assists for her first double-double this season and help the Gamecocks (19-6, 11-1) stay tied atop the Southeastern Conference with Mississippi State. South Carolina shot 59 percent.

Cuevas-Moore and Henderson scored 14 points each in the first half when the Gamecocks had 30 in the second quarter to overcome a nine-point Florida lead and go up 48-40 at halftime.

From staff and wire reports