Lady Redskins give Vidalia a game
The first time Vidalia and Bryan County High School met this season, the Lady Indians scalped the Lady Redskins, 68-26.
The second time around still resulted in a loss, but BCHS girls’ basketball coach Mario Mincey saw a silver lining in the 43-47 setback to perennial AA power Vidalia (14-5, 9-0 in 2-AA) on Saturday night.
“The team played very hard against one of the best teams in our region and in Class AA,” Mincey said. “Their size advantage and experience was the key to them pulling out the victory (but) I was proud of the team effort and we can learn a lot from this game.”
Bryan County got 12 points and two steals from Kaylin Leggett, while Rita Ivey added eight points, three steals and pulled down nine rebounds. Yasmaine Crawford had a team-high 11 rebounds and “had several key plays on defense,” said Mincey, who hopes his team continues to play well down a stretch that included a contest against McIntosh County Academy on Tuesday night. BCHS (9-10 overall, 6-5 in 2-AA) travels to Jeff Davis on Friday night and plays host to Southeast Bulloch on Saturday.
The Lady Redskins started the weekend off with a 57-41 win over Toombs County. Brianna Smith led the way with 15 points, four assists and five steals, Ivey added nine points, 11 rebounds and three steals and Crawford had eight points and 10 rebounds.
Mincey called it a “complete team effort.”
“The team was able to defeat a quality veteran team in Toombs County,” he said. “I was really proud of our team defense.”
In boys’ action, BCHS toppled Toombs County 75-51 on Friday night, then fell 91-52 on Saturday to Vidalia (19-0), currently ranked No. 2 in Class AA.
Individual stats are unavailable. The Redskins are 7-11 overall and 3-8 in the region.

Wildcats working on improving
Richmond Hill High School coach William Henderson is still upbeat about the team’s chances to get back to the state playoffs. The Wildcats (5-13 overall, 4-4 in 3-AAAAA) are currently the No. 4 seed in the region and “are hoping to get a win in the region tournament and make a return to the state playoffs,” said Henderson, who recently celebrated the birth of his first child.
The Wildcats have been struggling with consistency, playing all four quarters, committing too many turnovers and “our defense isn’t where we want it to be,” he said. “With all that said, we are still in position to reach all of the goals that we have set for this season.”
The team is young, with only four seniors, so the team is getting plenty of minutes from younger players “who are really improving as the year progresses,” he said.
“At the beginning of the year a lot of guys were getting their first real varsity game experience. That, combined with a pretty tough non-region schedule has led to some struggles through the first part of the year,” Henderson said. “The guys are still working hard though, and they understand that it is long season and we can still do a lot of really great things.”
Last season, the Wildcats started slow and finished 12-17, but still pulled off a postseason worth remembering. Richmond Hill wound up going to the Sweet 16 after upending top seed Jones County in first round of the state Class AAAAAA tournament. They came within four points of advancing to the Elite Eight.
Can history repeat itself?
“We’re focusing now on getting better every day, working hard in practice, so that we can hopefully be playing our best basketball when it is region tournament time,” Henderson said.

Lady Wildcats down Wayne County, Groves
Richmond Hill High School got 19 points from Hannah Riley and 13 from Keeara Jackson in a 48-37 win Saturday over Wayne County in Jesup.
The win improved the Lady Wildcats to 13-5 overall and followed Friday’s 50-6 win over winless Groves 50-6.
Richmond HIll plays at Jenkins on Friday and plays host to South Effingham on Saturday night. The girls’ game tips off at 6 p.m.