Stick to the game plan. Do what you’re coached to do. And above all, don’t panic.
Those three fundamental tents were all on display last Tuesday night when Bryan County’s girls rallied from a 15-point deficit to beat Screven County, 69-63, to kick off a three-win week that propelled the Redskins to No. 3 in Class A-DII state rankings per Sandy’s Spiel.com.
Screven County, which won the Region 3A-DII tournament last year after Bryan County finished first in the regular season race, entered the game ranked No. 6 and looked every bit the part as it pounced early.
Trailing 21-7 at the end of an error-filled first quarter the Redskins regrouped behind the play of Jasmine Mikell, Layla Mincey and Liz Harvey to gradually chip away and eventually pull out the pulsating win.
Going into the Christmas break—they won’t play again until Jan. 2, 2026, when they host Emanuel County Institute—the Redskins (12-1, 5-0) took over first-place in the region.
Coach Mario Mincey’s team capped the week with non-region road wins at Wheeler County, 59-28, on Friday night and avenged their only loss of the season the next night when they knocked off South Effingham, 40-35.
While the wins at Wheeler and South Effingham were nice, the come-from-behind win against Screven was simply sweet, Mikell said.
“We just had to keep our energy going and not give up,” said Mikell, who has committed to play at Auburn-Montgomery. “It was a momentum game for us.
“We had energy and kept feeding off it and one another,” Mikell said. “That’s what got us back in the game offensively.”
Bryan County struggled offensively at the outset—especially at the foul line where it was 8-for-21 in the first half—against the Gamecocks who are a virtual mirror image of the Redskins in the way they play.
“I don’t know what was going on with the free throws,” said Mikell who has now started every game of her career. “I know we can shoot better than that.”
The Redskins finished the game making 19 of 36 free throws and were clutch when the game was on the line, making 9-of-12 in the closing minutes.
Screven got the first basket of the second quarter for a 16-pound bulge but a ball-hawking defense jump-started the offense as the Redskins started cutting into what appeared to be an insurmountable lead.
The Redskins outscored the Gamecocks 15-6 in the second quarter and went into halftime with all the momentum. They finally got their first lead, 39-38, since 2-0 when Liz Harvey scored with 2:38 left in the third quarter.
It was a see-saw affair from there on until Layla Mincey took a feed from Briana Crawford for a basket and Crawford then put back a Mikell miss before burying a 3-pointer from the left corner. Mincey capped an 8-2 run with a free throw for a 55-49 lead with 4:29 to play.
After the Gamecocks closed to within 63-61 with 1:05 to play Mincey and Harvey made four free throws in the final 16 seconds to close it out.
Mincey, who improves with each game, had 23 points and 15 rebounds to go with four blocks while Mikell scored 18 with five assists and five steals. Harvey added 12 points, eight rebounds and seven steals and Crawford had nine points and six rebounds.
The Redskins cruised at Wheeler County as Mikell had 16 points, five assists and five steals and Mincey had 14 rebounds and four blocks to go with 14 points. Harvey had another big night as she scored nine points to go with eight rebounds and six steals. Crawford shone, too, with eight points and seven rebounds.
In a half-court grind it out game at South Effingham which was played at Bryan County’s pace Mikell had 12 points while Mincey and Harvey scored eight each and Mincey controlled the boards with 13 rebounds.