(left to right) Men's Coach Mark Peeler, Women's Assistant Kristi Pollonais and Women's Coach Maggie Peeler

Erskine College Hosts Rival Lander University Saturday

When Erskine College hosts Lander Saturday in men's and women's basketball, two veterans of this small college rivalry will be seeing things from an entirely different perspective.

Erskine senior Hunter Roark, the Fleet's leading scorer with almost 15 points a game, played at Lander for three seasons. He is the first men's basketball player to transfer from Lander to Erskine.

"Hunter makes this game interesting, especially for him playing against a bunch of guys he knows," said Erskine Athletic Director Chip Sherer. "But that won't add or detract from the special quality of this game for us."

Roark may have never played for the Fleet in an Erskine-Lander game, but he has scored for the garnet and gold. Fans of the rivalry may remember a game at Lander Roark's first year when, after coming off the bench, the then Lander player went the wrong way and dunked a ball in Erskine's basket.

While he hopes to dunk several balls in the Erskine basket in the men's game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, the women's game will feature the return of former Erskine star Val Warren, now a student assistant coach at Lander.

Warren, a Greenwood native, was co-winner of Erskine's highest athletic award, the Jake Todd Award, in the spring, after culminating a career where she was among the school leaders with 1,534 points and 745 rebounds despite missing most of her senior season with a knee injury. Warren is currently in graduate school at Lander.

Lander is coached by Sheila Rhodes, Warren's high school coach, and the Lady Senators dropped their first four games this year before wining two of their last three. Lander comes into the game after beating Allen, 97-45.

Erskine, 2-5 on the season and led by first-year coach Maggie Peeler, will be trying to avenge last year's 79-63 loss. The women's game begins at 5:30 p.m.

The Erskine men, under second-year coach Mark Peeler, will be looking to end a drought against the Senators. Erskine's last win in the series came in the 1992-93 season, and last year's game went to Lander, 96-52.

"They really pulverized us last year, so this game will be a measuring stick to see how much we've improved," Sherer said.

Lander is off to a 3-3 start this year, while the Fleet are 2-4. "Lander is not as strong as they were last year, but this game will show us if we are progressing," Sherer said.

Sherer, who played basketball at Erskine, is familiar with the rivalry, and says it stems from the close proximity of the two schools.

Although Lander is a state-supported public school and Erskine is a private, church-related college, students from the two schools often cross paths in Greenwood.

"Our students interact with their students probably more than any other school, so we are familiar with each other," Sherer said. "And people in Greenwood recognize Erskine and Lander as their two local colleges so that makes it neat."