South-Carolina
South Carolina women plead guilty to charges related to trafficking of minors
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – Two South Carolina women have been convicted after pleading guilty to charges related to the trafficking of three minors.
Monesha Tatayana Lapri Gary, 24, of Clinton, and Rebecca Melanie Perry, 30, of Columbia, pleaded guilty to human trafficking conspiracy in federal court in Columbia.
Evidence presented in court showed both women worked with co-defendants Antonio Marquis Nicholson and Terrell Counts to exploit the three minors in the commercial sex trade from at least December 2022 through August 2023.
Officials said Nicholson and Perry recruited one minor victim who was a runaway at a hotel and drove her across state lines, told her that she was going to work in commercial sex, bought her lingerie, took photos of her, advertised her for commercial sex on the internet, and arranged for customers to exploit her at hotels in the Columbia area and elsewhere in the state.
According to a press release, two minors were recruited near a high school.
Officials said members of the conspiracy used the internet to advertise the victims and carry out the crime.
Nicholson is accused of setting prices, collecting proceeds, deciding which minor victims would receive some portion of the proceeds, and how much they would receive.
Gary reportedly chatted with customers as if she was a minor victim, took a minor to another city to be exploited, collected proceeds, and turned them over to Nicholson all while the minor was multiple states away from her family. Perry helped similarly.
One victim was allegedly physically assaulted, and several of the members of the conspiracy carried guns and distributed drugs around the victims.
Under a plea agreement, Gary and Perry agreed to pay restitution to the victims.
United States District Judge Sherri A. Lydon accepted the guilty plea and will sentence Gary and Perry. An indictment is pending against Nicholson and Counts.
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South-Carolina
Former South Carolina wing, Lexington native, lands at new program via transfer portal
Former Gamecock basketball wing Cam Scott has found a new home. Following a second offseason in which the Lexington, South Carolina native entered the transfer portal, the Temple Owls have announced that Scott has signed with the program.
A former five-star prospect (though he was a four-star by the time he signed), Scott’s South Carolina basketball career did not go the way many envisioned when he flipped from the Texas Longhorns in the class of 2024.
During his high school days, Scott was a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year in the Palmetto State. He also set numerous records at Lexington High School. He signed with Texas before eventually winding up with the Gamecocks.
Scott then spent two years in garnet and black. As a freshman, he struggled mightily, averaging 2.5 points while shooting 27.8% from the field and 17.8% from 3-point range. After entering and withdrawing from the transfer portal, he returned to USC for a second season. However, Scott never played again, choosing to redshirt the 2025-2026 campaign.
Because of the redshirt, Scott will have three years left to play at Temple.
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Scott joins six former teammates in finding new homes via the transfer portal. All seven of South Carolina’s transfers this cycle have dropped down to mid-major programs.
Forward EJ Walker (Western Kentucky), forward Jordan Butler (Furman), forward Elijah Strong (St. Louis), post player Christ Essandoko (Bowling Green), guard Eli Ellis (Charlotte), and wing Abu Yarmah (Longwood) have all revealed commitments this transfer cycle.
Following another tough season in Columbia, South Carolina will have a very different roster next year. With five graduates and seven transfer portal defections (plus multiple staff changes), the Gamecocks nearly experienced complete turnover.
So far, six players have pledged their services to Lamont Paris’ team out of the transfer portal. Kory Mincy (George Mason), Camden Heide (Texas), Aleksas Bieliauskas (Wisconsin), Shane Blakeney (Drexel), Jakub Necas (Duquesne), and Davion Hannah (Alabama) have committed as of the time of this writing.
South-Carolina
LSU completes sweep of South Carolina, 7-0
BATON ROUGE, LA (USC SID) – The University of South Carolina baseball team fell to LSU, 7-0, Sunday afternoon (May 3) at Alex Box Stadium.
Omar Serna gave LSU a 2-0 lead in the third with a home run to left. Cade Arrambide’s sacrifice fly put the Tigers up 3-0 in the fifth. Tanner Reaves’ RBI single gave LSU a 4-0 lead but Ethan Lizama’s throw to the plate was called interference by Derek Curiel, holding the Tigers to one run.
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LSU scored a pair of runs in the sixth and added on in the seventh to make it 7-0.
KJ Scobey had two of Carolina’s five hits in the contest. Alex Valentin took the loss, allowing three runs on four hits in four innings with six strikeouts.
POSTGAME NOTES
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Josh Gregoire came in to pitch in his hometown of Baton Rouge. He pitched 1.1 innings and allowed a hit with no runs.
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Carolina had three errors on the day.
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Carolina played in Baton Rouge for the first time since 2011.
UP NEXT
Carolina will take the midweek off for final exams and return to action on Friday afternoon (May 8) against Alabama. The game will start at 5:30 p.m. and will be televised on SEC Network.
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South-Carolina
3 Takeaways From LSU Baseball’s Doubleheader With South Carolina
LSU baseball has been searching for a conference win for three weekends now, but after rain swept into Baton Rouge Friday, LSU would have to wait until Saturday for its chance to claim that win against South Carolina.
The issue is that meant the Tigers would play a doubleheader, something this team has yet to face. And the last thing this LSU team needs is an irregularity in its schedule.
LSU didn’t let it affect them, earning a 6-1 win in Game 1 and a 7-3 win in Game 2.
So now that the Tigers secured the series, it goes for the sweep on Sunday. But more importantly, LSU can take these three things away as it finishes the regular season and tries to earn a spot in the postseason.
The Fewer Pitchers, The Better
LSU’s starting rotation has been plagued by injuries, with Casan Evans and Cooper Moore missing multiple weekends this season.
And LSU has felt that.
With those losses, nearly every game has become a bullpen game, leading to LSU averaging five relievers per game across the last three weekend series losses. And the bullpen has been inconsistent, with nearly everyone having multiple rough outings this season.
This weekend, LSU got everything it could ask for from its starting pitchers.
With William Schmidt moving up to the starter role in Game 1, he went six innings before being replaced by Grant Fontenot, who went the rest of the way for the Tigers.
Game 2 was the same story. LSU had Marcos Paz carry the team through five innings of one-run baseball, and he was replaced by Deven Sheerin, who tossed four innings, allowing two runs in the top of the ninth inning.
Freshmen Keep Raking
Freshman William Patrick was just one of two players with multiple hits in Game 1, continuing a hot streak of games from him.
Another freshman who stepped up on Saturday was Mason Braun. He had one hit and three walks in Game 1 before blasting a two-run home run to advance LSU’s lead in Game 2. He’s been a major contributor all season as a freshman, earning starts as early as opening day.
Don’t overlook the freshman in the pitching staff either, with Paz earning a weekend start in Game 2. His outing was layered with confidence, allowing just one hit, one earned run and three walks while striking out eight.
Offense Finds Its Footing
For a while it felt like LSU would never find an offensive identity, with head coach Jay Johnson just asking his team to go back to basics and focus on just finding the baseball with the bat and not trying to optomize their swings for launch angle and find hits to the backside of the field.
Against Mississippi State last weekend, LSU scored eight runs in every game in one of the most consistent offensive weekends since February.
That carried over into this weekend, scoring six and seven in each of the games on Saturday.
Steven Milam, Derek Curiel and Cade Arrambide all had multiple RBI in Game 1 versus the Gamecocks, but they’ve been stars at the plate all season.
Arrambide launched a late home run for LSU, adding to its strong lead.
Seth Dardar got his time back in the lineup in Game 2 after dealing with some injuries the last few weeks, and he took advantage of his at-bats, going 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
LSU has found its offensive identity that Johnson was begging for all season, allowing small ball, sacrifice plays and two-out hitting to score instead of relying on home runs.
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