After the Sunday break, the 26th annual Battle at the Border tournament resumed with the semifinal rounds. The 8 action-packed games got started at 10:00 with the girls’ Silver Bracket semifinals – which were a tale of 2 polar opposite games.
Blue Ridge opened the day with a tilt against High Point Academy. The Grizzlies have found themselves vastly outmatched so far in this tourney, mustering just 18 points in a 55 point blowout at the hands of the Spartanburg Vikings. While they were not going up against 5A competition this time, there is little doubt that the gap in talent and depth was once again a factor against a 4A foe as the Tigers once again held HPA to less than 20 points in a 66-17 rout, earning Blue Ridge a spot in the silver bracket championship game Tuesday afternoon while High Point will close out their tourney run in the silver third place game.
The second ladies’ game of the day pitted region 3-3A foes Broome and Chapman against one another. Region games that count have yet to begin, but if this contest was any indication of how these two will battle it out later this season, fans will be in for a treat. It took more than 4 quarters to decide this one, and in the overtime period, it remained a tight affair. Chapman’s Anastyn Smith tied the game with a three pointer late, but in the end, free throws were the determining factor. Broome’s Dalia Hassan came through, knocking down two late shots from the stripe to help create all the cushion the Centurions would need for a 57-53 victory, punching their ticket to a date with Blue Ridge for the silver bracket title.
The boys’ silver bracket got underway with Union County and the Greenville Hurricanes first out of the gate. The Yellow Jackets’ up and down start to the season continued, this time with another peak as Union prevailed 78-54 to move on to the bracket championship, sending the Canes to the third place game.
In the 4th contest of the day, West Henderson (NC) and Broome fought it out to see who would be moving on to meet Union on Tuesday afternoon. In the end, the Falcons came out on top 65-47, meaning they would face Union for the silver trophy while Broome will try and finish strong in the third place game against the Hurricanes.
Girls’ action resumed with a spot in the tournament championship game on the line between Spartanburg and Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy (NC). The trend of exciting games in the women’s tourney continued in both of the gold bracket contests, beginning with another overtime thriller. Viking Amaya Meadows drained a triple with 30 seconds to play in the free period after forcing back to back turnovers. On the opposite end following Meadows’ huge basket, Kaylee Nelson came away with a steal to secure a 64-60 win to advance to the title game and send the Griffins to the third place game.
The finale of the girls’ semifinals featured the Boiling Springs Lady Bulldogs and the host Landrum Lady Cardinals in a contest that was back and forth to the wire. In the end, despite several attempts to take a lead in the final 45 seconds for BSHS, Landrum’s defense won out as the Cards triumphed 45-43 to make a date with Spartanburg in the championship while Boiling Springs will face Thomas Jefferson looking to bounce back in the “bronze medal game.”
As the clock turned to the night hours, the boys’ gold bracket semifinals tipped off with a matchup between Brevard (NC) and Blue Ridge – which went the Tigers’ way 79-72, setting the stage for a wild finale to determine the last berth in Tuesday night’s tournament championship game featuring the Walhalla Razorbacks and Landrum Cardinals.
The Cards got off to a very slow start on offense, being kept off the scoreboard for almost 4 minutes. In that time span, Walhalla found a rhythm from beyond the arch, hitting on 4 early three pointers. The lid finally came off the hoop for Landrum when Noah Dodd drained a triple with 4:30 to play in the period that gave a burst of life to the anemic offense. The Cardinals managed to chip their way back in, eventually taking the lead to be up 15-14 at the end of the first quarter. Landrum held that lead for most of the 2nd stanza, up until the Hogs managed to capitalize on a steal with a slam dunk for the lead on the fast break, putting them up 39-37 at the half.
Landrum’s offense once again went cold out of the break, scoring just 11 points while Walhalla senior guard Jack Williams got hot. He tallied 10 of the Razorbacks’ 14 points in the 3rd quarter, helping give his squad a 53-48 advantage heading into the final 8 minutes of regulation.
That was a spoiler. It would take more than 32 minutes to decide this one, as the two sides traded leads throughout the 4th quarter. With 5:50 on the clock, Landrum’s Ivan Williams drained a three from the left corner to tie the game at 58. After Walhalla stormed back, Landrum once again reclaimed the edge with a pair of Dodd free throws. Isaiah Atkins became Johnny on the spot in the 4th quarter for the Cardinals with 6 points, possibly none bigger than his putback layup with 2:52 to play to reclaim the lead 64-62. About a minute later, Landrum got into a position to win, but it was foiled by a triple by Jack Williams in the waning seconds to tie things up at 70.
After trading blows in the overtime period, Noah Dodd once again put the Cardinals in front with a three from the left wing to make it 76-74 in favor of Landrum. After the Razorbacks struck back to knot things up, Dodd played the hero one last time with a layup with :54 to play. That basket gave them the lead – this time for good, at 77-76, with Landrum going on to win 78-77 to punch their ticket to the championship game.
With day 2 in the books, the schedule for the final day is as follows:
Girls Silver Bracket:
Third Place Game
Chapman vs High Point
10:00 AM
Championship
Broome vs Blue Ridge
1:00 PM
Boys Silver Bracket:
Third Place Game
Broome vs Greenville Hurricanes
11:30 AM
Championship
Union vs West Henderson
2:30 PM
Girls Gold Bracket:
Third Place Game
Boiling Springs vs Thomas Jefferson
4:00 PM
Championship
Landrum vs Spartanburg
7:00 PM
Boys Gold Bracket:
Third Place Game
Walhalla vs Brevard
5:30 PM
Championship
Landrum vs Blue Ridge
8:30 PM
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