Brantley County secured the No. 2 seed in the Region 1 tournament at and spot in the Class A DI state tournament winning two of its final three games in the regular season.
The Lady Herons (17-6 overall, 10-2 region) suffered a sweep of the season series to Worth County (13-8, 11-1) falling 50-37 Tuesday, February 4 in Sylvester. The Lady Rams, winners of six straight and 11 of their last 12 games to finish the season, escaped Caney Bay with a 51-49 victory January 8.
Brantley County knocked off Bacon County (12-9, 5-7), losers of three straight, 40-26 Friday, February 7 in Alma to complete the season sweep. The Lady Herons posted a 48-33 victory in the January 4 matchup.
BCHS closed out the regular season with a 37-20 decision over Pierce County (4-17), which entered on a season-best two-game winning streak. The Lady Herons recorded a 59-30 victory at home December 20.
The sweep is the second straight for Brantley County in the series and only the third time since 2012-13 the Lady Herons have pulled off the feat.
BCHS will play Thursday, February 13 in the region semifinals at Worth County. The Lady Herons await the survivor of third-seed Fitzgerald, sixth-seed Jeff Davis and No. 7 Berrien with a 4 p.m. tip.
The Brantley County-TBD winner advances to the Friday, February 14 championship game at 7 p.m. A consolation game is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Worth County ...........................50 Lady Herons..............................37 SYLVESTER — The Lady Rams stretched a three-point advantage to 19 points by the end of the third period in beating visiting Brantley County.
Worth County staked itself to an 11-8 lead by the end of the opening period. A 15-10 scoring advantage in the second stanza gave the Lady Rams a 26-18 halftime lead.
The home team took control in the third quarter outscoring the Lady Herons 15-4 in building a comfortable 41-22 lead. BCHS cut six points off the deficit over the final eight minutes outpointing the Lady Rams 15-9.
Rianna Dennard (two rebounds, two assists, steal) led the Lady Herons with 11 points. Summer Colley (two treys, three rebounds, assist, steal) followed with 10 points.
Abbie Lee (team-high 13 rebounds, team-high six steals, two assists) bagged six points with Kimoa Mincey adding four points. Ayaniah Davenport (11 rebounds, three steals, assist) and Julia Carter (team-leading seven assists, four rebounds, steal) each scored three points.
Worth County’s Jariah Williams (two treys) scored 14 of her game-high 15 points over the middle two periods. Khalonee Baker (three treys) netted 12 of her 14 points in the first half.
Lady Herons..................40 Bacon County ................26 ALMA — Brantley County opened up an eight-point lead in the first period and was never seriously challenged in turning back the Lady Red Raiders.
The Lady Herons built a 13-5 advantage by the end of the opening stanza. Each team scored nine points in the second period with the visitors taking a 22-14 lead at intermission.
Brantley County outpointed the Lady Red Raiders 10-6 during the third quarter to stretch the margin to 32-20. BCHS outscored Bacon County 8-6 in the final period.
Colley (three rebounds, two steals, assist) hit a season-best five three-pointers to score a game-high 17 points for the Lady Herons. Dennard (trey, team-high seven steals, teamhigh three assists, two rebounds) was next with nine points while Lee (trey, six rebounds, three steals, assist) added seven.
Edie Lowther (two rebounds), Davenport (team-leading eight rebounds, four steals) and Carter (three rebounds, steal) contributed two points apiece. Mincey (six rebounds, two steals, two assists) canned a free throw.
Marnay’jah Reynolds paced Bacon County with 13 points. Jateria Smith (trey) netted eight points with Makayla Thomas netting five points.
