Bryan County girls basketball coach Mario Mincey has been saying all year he believed Region 3A-DII was one of the strongest in the state.

If the opening night of the Class A-DII state playoffs are any indication Mincey obviously knows what he’s talking about.

Region champion Metter, No. 3 seed Screven County and No. 4 seed ECI all won with Screven and ECI beating higher seeds from Region 5. Metter beat Johnson County, 72-17; Screven beat No. 2 seed Hancock County, 61-54, and ECI cruised past No. 1 seed Glasscock County, 84-44.

And, then there’s No. 2 seed Bryan County which took on No. 3 seed Georgia Military College.

It was no contest as the Redskins (23-5) started fast and finished fast for an easy 68-26 win over the shell-shocked Bulldogs who had no answer for a pressing Bryan County defense that led to several easy baskets.

The win propelled Bryan County into a Sweet 16 matchup against Region 2 champion Brooks County (19-9) which advanced with an easy 52-28 win over Marion County. The two will meet at 6 p.m. Friday in Quitman which is approximately 195 miles from Pembroke.

Jasmine Mikell scored 20 points, all in the first half, to lead the Redskins. Mikell hit eight shots in a row at one point and finished the night hitting on nine of her 15 attempts from the floor.

Layla Mincey added 16 points and showed off her improved shooting range as she made four shots from behind the arc. Laney Sehr and Liz Harvey added 12 points each. Bryan County had 10 3-pointers on the night. Sehr had three treys, Harvey two and Briana Crawford added one.

The Redskins were coming off a difficult to take 64-57 loss to Metter last Friday in the region championship game and it was obvious they came out with a chip on their shoulder.

Mincey felt that loss, plus having played in one of the strongest regions in the state, had his team prepared for the state playoffs.

“I felt like we had played a tough region schedule and going through the toughness of the region championship game had us prepared,” Mincey said. “It worked out the way I thought it would after the first quarter.

“Brooks County is a tough team,” Mincey said. “They’ve got good guard play and good size in the post. It’s going to be a tough game for the simple fact the way they play reminds me of Metter.”

Despite the disparity in the score the Bulldogs actually led at 5-2 thanks to a followup of a missed shot by Lauryn Simpson who then hit a 3-pointer. Simpson’s basket came with 5:19 left in the quarter.

From that point on it was all Bryan County as the defense forced the action, creating turnover after turnover which led to easy baskets. The Redskins hit on 16-of-29 shots in the first half including a 9-of-11 run in the second quarter.

Following Simpson’s basket Bryan County reeled off 19 straight points for a 21-5 lead before GMC scored again. It was 15-5 after the first quarter and 35-13 at the half making the second half a mere formality.