Who’s in, who’s out? The playoff picture for Midlands basketball teams in final week
The high school basketball regular season is entering its final week, and there is still plenty left to decide regarding the postseason.
Playoffs begin Feb. 16, and teams have until Feb. 15 if needed to report playoff qualifiers. Here is a look at scenarios for Midlands boys and girls teams. Region records in parentheses:
Boys Basketball
Region 4-5A: Ridge View (6-1) can wrap up the region with wins in its final two games or with a Northwestern (5-2) loss to Rock Hill. Blythewood (3-4) leads Spring Valley (3-5) for the third spot. Blythewood needs to beat RV on Friday for third spot. If Blythewood loses, SV would be third and Blythewood fourth
Region 5-5A: Dutch Fork (7-1) has won the region, Lexington (5-2) is second and River Bluff (4-3) third. Chapin (2-5) is locked into the fourth spot.
Region 4-4A: Irmo (8-1) won the region title and A.C. Flora (7-2) finishes second. Westwood (5-4) has clinched a spot and will be third or fourth. Richland Northeast (4-5) leads Dreher (3-6) and clinches with a win over Westwood or Dreher loss to Flora. If Dreher wins and RNE loses on Friday, Dreher gets final spot.
Region 5-4A: North Augusta (6-1) leads the region. Midland Valley (5-2) and South Aiken (5-2) are tied for second. Airport (2-6) is fourth seed.
Region 4-3A: Keenan (8-0) has won the region and its regular season is complete. Lower Richland (5-2) is second and Fairfield Central (3-4) is third. Chester (1-5) earns fourth spot by defeating Mid-Carolina (0-6) in one of the final two games. MC needs to beat Chester twice to finish fourth.
Region 5-3A: Orangeburg-Wilkinson (8-1) and Brookland-Cayce (8-1) are tied for the region lead and will meet Wednesday for the region title. Fox Creek (6-4) is third and Strom Thurmond (4-5) fourth.
Region 6-3A: Crestwood (9-0), Lakewood (7-1) and Manning (5-4) and Marlboro County all have clinched playoff spots.
Region 3-2A: Gray Collegiate (9-0) is region champion. Saluda (5-2) is second. Rest of the region is up for grabs with Batesburg-Leesville (3-3), Newberry (2-3), Columbia (1-6) and Eau Claire (1-7) with several games left.
Region 4-2A: York Prep (8-0) is in the driver’s seat in the region. But most of the region still has makeup games that will stretch into next week. The rest of the region stacks up like this: Central (6-3), Andrew Jackson (6-3), Chesterfield (4-6), North Central (2-4), Chesterfield (1-6) and Buford (1-6).
Region 5-2A: Region is playing only a four-game schedule because of COVID postponements. Standings are Wade Hampton (4-0), Barnwell (3-1), Edisto (1-2), Silver Bluff (1-3) and Pelion (0-3).
Region 2-2A: Great Falls (5-0) and C.A. Johnson (4-1) are the top two teams and play Friday night in a game to decide the title. CAJ needs to win by four points to win the region. The rest of the region is Governor’s School (3-3), Lewisville (1-5) and McBee (1-5). Top four teams make the playoffs.
SCISA: Playoff brackets will be released next week.
Girls Basketball
Region 4-5A: Rock Hill (7-0) won the region. Northwestern (5-2) leads Spring Valley (5-3) for second. SV will finish second if RH beats Northwestern on Friday. Ridge View (1-6) clinches fourth by beating Blythewood (0-7) on Friday.
Region 5-5A: Lexington (7-0) clinched the region and Dutch Fork (6-2) is second. River Bluff (3-4) is third and Chapin (2-5) fourth.
Region 4-4A: Westwood (8-0) clinched the region. Second place will likely be decided from Friday’s A.C. Flora (7-2) and Dreher (6-3) matchup. Irmo (3-6) is fourth.
Region 5-4A: North Augusta has won the region and Aiken is second. Midland Valley (2-5) can clinch third Friday with a win over South Aiken. Airport (2-6) has the fourth spot now.
Region 4-3A: Keenan (8-0) clinched the region. Lower Richland (5-2) leads Fairfield Central (4-3) and clinches second with a win Wednesday. The final spot is between Chester (0-6) and Mid-Carolina (0-6), which play twice this week.
Region 5-3A: Orangeburg-Wilkinson (9-0) clinched the region. The other three playoff spots are likely wrapped up with Strom Thurmond (7-2), Fox Creek (6-3) and Gilbert (4-5).
Region 6-3A: Camden (8-0) has won the region and Crestwood (7-2) is second in the region.
Region 3-2A: Gray Collegiate (9-0) has clinched first and Saluda (7-2) second. The rest of the region will be decided this week.
Region 4-2A: Andrew Jackson (9-0) clinched the region. Rest of the standings are Chesterfield (7-3), Bufford (6-3), Cheraw (4-6), York Prep (2-4) and North Central (2-6).
Region 5-2A: Region is playing only a four-game schedule because of COVID postponements. The top four teams are Silver Bluff (4-0), Wade Hampton (3-1), Barnwell (2-2) and Edisto (1-3).
SCISA: Playoff brackets will be released next week.
This story was originally published February 7, 2022 at 12:37 PM.
