Wildcat Gymnasium was the site of a playoff doubleheader sweep on Feb. 15.

Both Lexington basketball teams defeated J.L. Mann in the opening round of the S.C. High School League playoffs.

The Lady Wildcats opened with a 56-26 victory over the Lady Patriots. This was followed by a 77-53 rout by the boys' basketball team.

While the Wildcats will await the winner of Rock Hill/Spartanburg on Feb. 18 at home, Lexington is slated to play host to the Lady Bearcats on Feb. 17 .

The second-round matchup is a rematch from the A.C. Flora Tipoff Classic matchup on Nov. 21, 2022 won by Rock Hill 44-42.

Girls Basketball

Lexington 56, J.L. Mann 26

It was a day fitting for the Lady Wildcat's "Queen".

The morning hours saw the All-State and co-Region Player of the Year selected to the South Carolina team competing at the Carolinas Classic All-Star Basketball Classic. She will be among the 12 players from the Palmetto State competing against North Carolina on March 25 at John T. Hoggard High School in Wilmington, N.C.

Early in the second quarter against the Lady Patriots, Garner scored on a layup to reach a school milestone.

She scored her 1,000th career point for the Lady Wildcats, joining a list that includes guards Alexis Sexton of Francis Marion and Olivia Thompson of the University of South Carolina.

After Garner's accomplishment, she proceeded to lead Lexington with a game-high 20 points and the victory.

"It's just a crazy feeling being able to come back and be in the same spot we were last year and, hopefully, get it done this year," Garner said.

Lexignton jumped out to an 8-2 lead as sophomore Izzy Saville connected on two of her three, 3-pointers. She and Maggie Green each finished with 11 points.

The Lady Patriots closed the gap to 14-13 by the end of the first quarter, only to get held scoreless for just under 13 minutes.

This included the entire second quarter where they were outscored 11-0. By the time J.L. Mann scored again with 4:13 left in the third quarter, Lexington was up 29-15.

After a free throw with 36.4 seconds left, J.L. Mann was held scoreless again for another seven minutes. This enabled Lexington to enjoy its biggest lead at 35 points before the Lady Patriots closed the game with an 8-2 run.

"The girls are getting a lot better at moving their feet, keeping their girls in front," said Lexington head coach Molly Goodrich, who picked up her 135th win at the school. "They just have really bought into the idea that I keep telling them 'defense and rebounding, defense and rebounding'. I was so proud of how they boxed out, grabbed the board. Those girls were athletic, so we did hold them scoreless and I was proud of our defensive effort."

Lexington 77, J.L. Mann 53

Jaxon Prunty and Kaleb Evans were playing their first playoff game at Wildcats.

Outside of some shaky moments, the duo along with All-State Cam Scott, who had a game-high 26 points, more than helped provide a potent, balanced attack for Lexington. Prunty and Evans finished with 19 and 18, respectively, in the win.

"You can talk about the first time with new teammates in a playoff with Jaxon, I would say it was the same thing essentially with Kaleb," Lexington head coach Elliott Pope said. "It was the first time he'd been in that situation. So it's good for them. It's a good learning experience, a lot to things to grow from, a lot of things to learn from tonight, but I'm just happy to get a win versus a good J.L. Mann team."

Like the girls, Lexington took control of the game in the second quarter. Following a 9-1 run by J.L. Mann to tie the game at 19-19, the Wildcats closed the first half with 11 unanswered points to lead at halftime.

The offense erupted in the third quarter as Lexington outscored J.L. Mann 26-13 to extend their lead to 56-32. Scott and Prunty then opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back breakaway dunks during an 8-0 run to give Lexington its biggest lead.

"We had to focus on the little things," Pope said. "That's something we've said all year. We got a little bit out of ourselves, wanted to do things that we don't normally do. But we just calmed down, just settle down, get ourselves in a rhythm and we'll be fine. But, I think at the end of the day, that's a good win. That's a good J.L. Mann team and we've got to get ready to see Rock Hill or Spartanburg on Saturday."

Pope hopes to use the extra day to travel up Interstate 77 to Rock Hill to get an early look at his two potential opponents.