A win at Metter on Friday night will assure Bryan County’s girls basketball team of no less than a second-place finish in the regular season Region 3A-D1 race.
The Redskins (14-2, 6-0), ranked No. 8 in the state this week by the AJC, solidified their hold on first-place Tuesday night as they coasted to a 50-25 win over Woodville-Tompkins (8-10, 4-3). This came on the heels of last Friday’s 57-36 win over Savannah High (7-7, 3-2).
With four region games remaining–including a rematch with the Blue Jackets and a pair of games with Claxton (4-10, 0-6)--the Redskins appear to have a lock on finishing first in the regular season.
This is huge in that a first or second-place finish means an automatic berth in the GHSA Class A state playoffs and a bye into the semifinals of the region tournament and an automatic berth in the GHSA Class A state playoffs.
It also kept Bryan County on track for its seventh 20-win season in the last eight years. The only blemish is a 9-12 record in the Covid year of 2021.
“This was a big win,” Coach Mario Mincey said after defeating the Wolverines. “But I’m scared to death of the game at Metter.
“Coach (Cassandra) Donaldson has got her program going. They’ve improved a lot since we played them at the start of the season (50-38 win).”
Donaldson is in her second year at Metter (10-3, 2-3) after being an assistant coach at Bryan County for 10 years.
Kayley Wedlow scored 22 points to lead the win over the Wolverines with sophomore Liz Harvey coming off the bench to score 11. Bryan County jumped out to a 10-0 lead to start the game and never looked back as it went from a 14-7 first quarter lead to a 27-9 bulge at the half.
The start was similar to the win over Savannah in which the Redskins led 20-8 only to hit a lull in letting the Blue Jackets hang around. It was 28-15 at the half and the margin was 11 points, 36-25, after three.
However, Bryan County crushed any Savannah comeback hopes in the first minute and a half of the fourth quarter when it opened on a 12-2 run, 10 by Wedlow, to put the game on ice.
“I give them a C+,” Mincey said when asked about his team’s performance against the Blue Jackets. “It was a good region win but that’s about all I can say about it.”
Wedlow, who was the Region Player of the Year last year, was a one-man scoring machine against Savannah as she poured in 26 points, hitting four three-pointers in the process, and sophomore point guard Jasmine Mikell added 10 while playing a near flawless floor game.
“We got in foul trouble, all of our first players (starters) had three or four fouls,” Mincey said. “Ashanti (Brown) got in foul trouble, Soniya (Whitaker) and Katelyn King got in foul trouble. That’s why we had the lull in the third quarter.
“We had three sophomores (backups) on the floor in a big region game but they handled it.”