Bradwell Institute girls’ basketball team hosted a non-region game against Long County Saturday, and there was a lot of ball-wrangling that got the players on the floor during the first quarter.

BI took the lead in the first quarter, though they struggled to keep the ball in bounds. The Lady Tigers stayed on top throughout the game, ending in a 53-28 victory.

Mariah Maternik, Brytnii Speight and Seandre Lee turned out to be the three musketeers throughout the game. In several plays, 25 would take the ball down the court, feeding passes for shots made by Lee and Speight.

Shot attempts seemed to end up with ball dancing around the rim in the first half.

But the Lady Tigers were also persistent under the hoop, grabbing rebounds and doing a lot of strategic passing to open teammates for retries.

Coach Faye Baker was glad her players got in the competitive practice since breaking for Christmas.

"We wanted to utilize these games to get us back in the basketball sync for our region schedule next week," Baker said.

But she saw the girls will need to work on free throws and reducing turnovers.

The Tigers and Blue Tides are well-acquainted with each other and it was a "good rivalry game for both schools," according to Baker.

"I just think it was an overall good team effort," Baker said, also commending the reserve players who saw time and played good defense.

The boys’ game riled the crowds on both sides, bringing many to their feet to protest referee calls.

But even the outcries from the sidelines couldn’t help the Tigers, who fell to the Blue Tide at 73-58.

The BI boys played with a vengeance after tip-off, taking a four point lead by the end of the first quarter. But they lost it before halftime when they suffered a couple steals and "quite a few turnovers," in the third quarter, according to Tiger coach Peter Woodard.

Over shouts from the crowds, the boys played a close contact game of insistent blocking and high, long passes that sent the ball into the stands a couple times.

Treshawn Hagood turned out to be a particular stickler in the third quarter, staying on whoever had the ball.

Though, the Blue Tides proved to play tougher defense, doing a lot of crowding when the Tigers had the ball and tried to move with the ball or shoot.

But Bradwell took out all the stops in the final quarter, scoring within the first 30 seconds.

DJ Felder picked up back-to-back shots and Tony Coston brought the crowds to their feet when he hung off the rim after a dunk.

Though his team played with a "great deal of intensity and momentum," Woodard said the Blue Tide definitely picked up lost balls.

"We started out extremely well," Woodard said. "The most devastating thing for our team is we failed to get the key rebounds."

Like the Lady Tigers, he would also like to see improvement in free throws.

Woodard said his players sometimes have a tendency to think they can dribble through a trap, but the key is to pass.

The Tigers played their region game Tuesday night.

Top BI scorers: Darick Nesbitt, 11, Tony Coston, 25, DJ Felder, 34