Bryan County High School’s basketball teams will be home for the holidays this Christmas, thanks to the Bryan County Classic beginning Friday.
The tournament includes teams from BCHS, Metter, Islands and Richmond Hill.
“We decided to host a tournament this year for a couple of reasons,” said BCHS boys’ coach David Elmore. “We wanted to recreate the Bryan County-Richmond Hill game that we did not play last year, for the boys at least.”
Being able to play at home was also a positive.
“I feel that this will be a good test of competition for us and it allows us to play in front of our home crowd,” Elmore said. “And it being a somewhat of a more chopped-up break will help us with travel fatigue and allow us to be more prepared for our subregion schedule that starts Jan. 3.”
The Redskins are 5-4 this season after a 71-68 win over Screven County last week. Led by Kajana Dixon and Jeremy McClendon, who are averaging 25 and 15 points per game, respectively, they’ll face Richmond Hill at 8 p.m. Friday night.
The Lady Redskins also enter the tournament coming off a win after knocking off the Lady Gamecocks 76-36 to improve to 5-5 overall. Bryan County plays host to Islands at 6:340 p.m. Friday.
“This tournament is a great way to play some different teams in the area,” said girls’ coach Mario Mincey. “I think it will be good for my young quad to play in this type of atmosphere and this will help them prepare for the region tournament in February.
In the Lady Redskins’ win over the Lady Gamecocks, Kaylin Leggett led the way with 18 points and three steals, Julianne Brown had 16 points and eight rebounds, Brianna Smith added 14 points, four steals and five assists and Rita Ivey chipped in 11 points, eight rebounds and four after bouncing back from an inury. Yasmaine Crawford had six points, seven boards and three assists in that contest, which Mincey called “a total team effort and a great way to bounce back from two tough losses last weekend.”
Friday
Game 1: Metter girls vs. Richmond Hill girls, 3:30 p.m.
Game 2: Metter boys vs. Island boys, 5 p.m.
Game 3: Bryan County girls vs. Island girls, 6:30 p.m.
Game 4: Bryan County boys vs. Richmond Hill boys, 8 p.m.
Saturday
Game 1: Loser of game 3 vs. Loser of game 1, 3:30 p.m.
Game 2: Loser of game 4 vs. loser of game 2
Game 3: Girls; championship game, 6:30
Game 4: Boys’ championship game, 8 p.m.