PEMBROKE -- Bryan County’s girls basketball team missed the GHSA state playoffs last year and it stung, Coach Mario Mincey said.
“They’re not used to not making the state playoffs,” Mincey said back in November when the season was getting under way. “Getting back is all they talked about all summer.”
The Redskins (20-4) have had an excellent season, finishing third in Region 3A Public regular season play. But unless they get a win on Thursday night in a region tournament quarterfinal game it will all have been for naught. All tourney games are being played at Claxton.
That third-place finish earned Bryan County a first-round bye. It will play the winner of the ECI-Portal game at 7 p.m. A win will move it into Friday’s 7 p.m. semifinals game against No. 2 Claxton (14-5). The championship game is set for 7 p.m. Saturday with the consolation game at 4 p.m.
“This is nothing new to us,” Mincey replied when asked about pressure on his team. “We know if we win Thursday, we’re in the state playoffs. We’re used to playing games like this.”
It’s a different story for the boys.
Coach Brent Anderson’s team surprised everyone except perhaps themselves in winning the regular season to lock up an automatic bye into the semifinals and its first state playoff berth since 2016.
“That took a lot of the pressure off,” Anderson said of finishing first. “Now we don’t have to worry about a bad night taking away everything these kids have worked so hard for this season.”
Bryan County’s boys will make their tournament debut on Friday when they will play at 5:30 p.m. most likely against No. 4 seed Jenkins who will play the winner of the McIntosh County Academy-Metter game. The championship game is 7 p.m. on Saturday with the consolation game at 4 p.m.
Screven, Claxton and Bryan girls have dominated region play combining to go 35-0 against the rest of the field. It would be a shocking development if the Redskins failed to advance. Claxton posted a pair of six-point wins over Bryan County this season while the Redskins split with No. 1 seed Screven.
“We don’t have a 30-point scorer but we’ve played well as a team,” Mincey said. “They’ve sacrificed individual stats for the sake of the team. They don’t care who scores the points.
“Our seniors have played on three 20-win teams,” Mincey said of Niyah Shuman, Anjanee Johnson, Anderia Jackson and Zipporah Johnson. “I can’t complain about the four losses. We lost to Screven and Claxton and they’re both top 10 teams and to South Effingham which is a 6A school.”
Bryan, Screven and Claxton are all ranked in the Top 10 by outlets who rank teams. The Redskins are No. 3 in the state by sandyspiel.com. and No. 8 by the AJC. Screven is No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, while Claxton is No. 7 and No. 6.
“Not many regions can say they’ve got three teams in the Top 10,” Mincey said. “We’re just looking to see what we can do.”