FITZGERALD — Brantley County dropped its consolation matchups here in the Region 1-A tournament, with both the Lady Herons and Herons finishing fourth.
Despite the losses, both teams were inside the Top 32. The Lady Herons (207) entered the region tournament ranked in the Top 16, which would mean at least one home game. The Herons (13-15) were expected to possibly be ranked between 25-28 and would start on the road.
The third-seed Lady Herons fell to fourth-seed tournament host Fitzgerald (18-9) 38-27 in the Friday, January 20 consolation game. BCHS entered the tournament with six consecutive wins before being tripped up by second-seed Thomasville, ranked fifth, in the semifinals. The Lady Purple Hurricane had won four in a row before falling to topseed Bacon County, the classification’s sixthranked squad.
Brantley County split with Fitzgerald during the regular season with each posting road wins. The Lady Purple Hurricane posted a 46-41 victory January 2, with the Lady Herons recording a 45-42 win January 16.
The fourth-seed Herons lost 54-44 to second seed Jeff Davis (18-9), which was upset in the semifinals by third-seed Thomasville. BCHS fell to seventh-ranked Fitzgerald in the other semi matchup.
The Yellow Jackets swept Brantley County during the regular season winning 65-41 at home January 10 and 46-30 in Caney Bay January 27.
Fitzgerald ..............38 Lady Herons ..........27 Fitzgerald pulled away from a first quarter stalemate outscoring the Lady Herons in each of the final three quarters for the win.
The two teams were tied at 8-all at the end of the opening stanza. The Lady Purple Hurricane took the lead at intermission outscoring Brantley County 8-5 in the second period for a 16-13 advantage.
Fitzgerald stretched its margin to seven by the close of the third quarter, outscoring the Lady Herons 10-6 to open up a 26-19 lead. The Lady Purple Hurricane closed the game outscoring BCHS 12-8 for the double-digit margin.
Abbie Lee (five rebounds, three steals, assist) led the Lady Herons with nine points. Tamiyah Coley (team-high five steals, two rebounds, assist) netted six points.
Mia Kate Bates (assist) and Chloe Johns (trey) each netted three points. Julie Carter (team-leading three assists, rebound), Grace Carver (three rebounds, assist) and Edie Lowther (seven rebounds) chipped in two points each. Anniston Bowers led the team in rebounds with a careerhigh 11. She recorded two assists and was credited with a steal.
Fitzgerald's Sanorra McKind scored 11 of her game-high 18 points in the final period.
The Lady Purple Hurricane had a huge advantage at the foul line making 13-of-30 attempts. Brantley County was just 6-of-12.
Jeff Davis...............54 Herons ..................45 The Yellow Jackets broke away from a 23-all tie at intermission outscoring Brantley County 22-12 in the third quarter to open up a double- digit lead en route to the win.
BCHS built a 13-8 first quarter advantage with Jayden Simmons (three rebounds, two assists, two steals) scoring scoring six of his team-high 12 points in the period. Jeff Davis battled back to tie the game at 23-apiece heading into intermission after outscoring the Herons 1510 in the second stanza.
The Yellow Jackets nearly matched their first half production during the third period, using the decisive 22-12 scoring advantage to open up a 45-35 lead. BCHS cut one point off the margin, outscoring Jeff Davis 10-9 over the final eight minutes.
Cole Courson (two rebounds, two assists) and Jayden Byron (two treys; three rebounds) netted nine points and eight points respectively. Tristan Dyess (two treys) chipped in six points.
Hayze Evans (three rebounds, two steals) and Nathan Howell (four rebounds, steal) bagged five points apiece.
Jaiden West’s (four treys) 14 points led four Yellow Jackets in double figures. Kolby Jarrell (three treys) followed with 13 points. A.J. Sampson and J.T. Bryant added 11 points and 10 points respectively.
