By Jed Blackwell, Associate-Editor & Publisher

Two teams, expected to be in the thick of their respective state championship races, where at the top of the leader-board at the Lady Rebel Invitational at River Falls Plantation on Tuesday.

The defending AA Champions from Chesnee and the defending AAAAA state title holders from Dorman can never meet in a high school league championship match because they are in different classifications, but they can battle each other in events like the Lady Rebel that showcases each teams talent.

Chesnee, which has won three straight state championships, defeated two-time defending 5A champion Dorman by two strokes, 309-311 in the tournament that included 15 different teams from all the SCHSL classifications.

The win marked Chesne’s second in as many tournaments. They won the Lady Blue Jacket Invitational hosted by Aynor earlier in the weekend.

“We struggled a little bit at Aynor,” said Kyle Scruggs.the Chesnee golf coach. “But every team was kind of missing one person, which kind of helped us. Today, though, we played really really well. I think at practice we worked on what they said they were struggling with, and we made a bunch of improvements.”

The Eagles were led by Olivia Roberts last year’s Class AA individual champion, who shot a 70 to earn medalist honors for the tournament.

This was the sixth straight year that a Roberts won the individual title. Olivia’s sister Sydney, now a junior on the Clemson golf team, dominated the event for four years before her younger sister started her streak.

Roberts said that while she didn’t think she played her best, she was excited to have the win.

“A few shots I hit today weren’t great, but I still feel like this course is gettable,” Roberts said. “It was manageable to hit a good shot, and then hit another one and go from there. It kind of worked out.”

Roberts said her putter was working, but she was pleased with her play overall.

“Today I actually struck the ball pretty well,” she said. “I struggled with that a little this past weekend, and worked hard in practice to kind of feel it again. Today I actually felt like I knew what I was doing.”

Addison Parker shot 77 for Chesnee, Abigail Watson added a 78, and Olivia Shields shot 84 to round out the scoring.

Dorman was led by A.C. Peake, who joined Roberts under par at 71. Ava Romansky added a 75, Londyn Rath shot 77, and Addison Cox fired an 88 to wrap up the scoring for Dorman.

T.L. Hanna was third in the team standings, followed by Byrnes and Daniel to make the Top 5.

Roberts and Peake fired the only rounds under par on the day, but the four other girls on the All-Tournament team carded strong scores.

Mauldin’s Remy Reynolds shot an even-par 72, Belton-Honea Path’s Kate Gunnells shot a 74, and Romansky’s 75 landed her a spot in the Top 5, tied for fifth with T.L. Hanna’s Sierra Schulze.

Lady Rebel Team Scores: Chesnee 309, Dorman 311, Hanna 328, Byrnes 347, Daniel 350, Mauldin 385, Blythewood 387, Wade Hampton 392, Boiling Spring 395, Spartanburg 398, Chapman 406, Pickens 408, Byrnes II 429, BHP 439, Riverside 445, Gaffney 447, Seneca.

Full field scores are available for purchase or to registered users of the South Carolina Golf Coaches Association Wannamaker Ap at https://www.iwanamaker.com/event/116305