The 1st round of the SC High School League basketball playoffs was a rough 1 for Chronicle Country teams.

As Dutch Fork and River Bluff boys entered action Tuesday, only 2 of the 12 playoff qualifiers remained in the chase.

3-time defending Class 2A champion Gray Collegiate opened with a 89-48 win over Greer MC for its 16th straight playoff victory. Chase McDuffie and Travis Barnes each scored 12 points and Brandon Gardner had 11 points and 8 rebounds.

The top-ranked War Eagles are now 3 wins shy of becoming the 5th time in SCHSL history to win 4 straight titles. Up next is a quarterfinal matchup with York Prep at home Thursday.

The lone remaining Chronicle Country girls’ team is Lexington.

On Monday, the Lady Wildcats exorcised the “ghost” of last year’s 1st round playoff loss to James Island with a 58-38 win over West Ashley. The backcourt duo of Alexis Sexton and Jenna Yanity combined for 46 points in the battle of Lady Wildcats. Sexton scored the team’s 1st 10 points enroute to 30 points and Yanity scored 13 of her 16 points in the 1st half.

“We had something to prove,” Sexton said. “We played James Island last year and it was a really, tough loss. This year, we came into it thinking like expectations are to win region, but we’re not just here to win region. So we had to be focused and had a good week of practice.”

“She’s a tough player,” said Lexington girls basketball coach Molly Goodrich about Sexton. “She played very well on defense tonight. Did a very good job leading our team and I think her offense was definitely led by her defense tonight.”

A home win Thursday over Wando would advance Lexington to its 2nd Class 5A Lower State title game in 3 years and 3rd since 1979.

REGION HONORS

River Bluff guard Myles Jenkins was named the Region 5-5A Player of the Year. He was joined on the All-Region team by teammate Malachi Reeves.

The Silver Foxes had 3 players named - Houston Jones, Jarvis Green and Jordan-Snipe Campbell and head coach Brett Jones was named Coach of the Year.

Rounding out the All-Region team were Henry Haigler and AJ Knight (both of Chapin), Cam Scott and Zavier Measmer (both of Lexington) and LJ Curry and Jaylen Ray (both of White Knoll).

The Region 4-4A boys team had Irmo’s Dylan Williams and Juice Keitt selected and head coach Tim Whipple named co-Head Coach of the Year with AC Flora’s Josh Staley.

On the girls’ side, Sexton and White Knoll’s Jasmine Jenkins shared Region 5-5A Player of the Year honors. Rounding out the All-Region girls’ team were Yanity and Lindsey Garner (both of Lexington), Adriana Henderson and Karlee Phillips (both of White Knoll), Reagan Rozier and Samira Khalil (both of River Bluff), McKenzie Lott (Chapin) and Maia Brown and Hillary Offing (both of Dutch Fork).

Dutch Fork’s Faye Norris was named Coach of the Year.