Playing in front of a packed hometown crowd Saturday, the Long County High School girls’ basketball team picked up its 15th win of the season by beating Pierce County, 55-48, in overtime.
In the boys’ game, the Blue Tide had their opportunities to pull out a win, but still fell to the Bears, 58-53.
The Lady Tide improved their overall record to 15-6 overall and 5-4 in Region 2-AA, while the Blue Tide fell to 5-15 overall and 1-8, respectively. The Pierce County boys were 3-10 overall and the girls were 8-6.
The girls’ game went back and forth all the way, and with less than a minute to play, Long County had a 43-42 lead. The Lady Tide’s Katie Estill drove in for a layup to put the home team up by three points. Estill also drew the foul and stood at the free-throw line with the opportunity to close out the game, but her shot bounced off the rim, giving the Lady Bears a glimmer of hope. Shortly after, Pierce County’s Martisha Ashley nailed a long 3-pointer to tie the game, 45-45, and send it into overtime.
In the extra session, the Lady Tide played outstanding offense and defense. Offensively, they spread the ball around, with five different players scoring for the team’s 10 points. Defensively, they shut down the Lady Bears, allowing just a meaningless Ashley 3-point shot at the buzzer.
Estill led Long County with 20 points. Mya Howard added 17 points. Ashley led the Lady Bears with 16 points.
In the boys’ game, the Blue Tide held a 20-17 lead after the first period and were tied with the Bears, 31-31, at the half. However, Pierce County shut down the home team in the third period, outscoring Long County, 13-4. Despite a late fourth-quarter rally, Long County never overcame this deficit.
Brendon Scott scored 17 points for Long County. Josh Powers scored 13 points.
Josh McDay led Pierce County with 17 points.
The Long County was scheduled to play Jeff Davis on Tuesday in Hazlehurst. Results of those games were not available.
On Friday, the Tide teams hit the road again to play at Groves in Garden City. As of Monday, the Rebels were posting a 7-9 overall record and a 3-6 mark in the region, while the Lady Rebels stood at 2-14 overall and 1-7 in the region. The girls’ game tips off at 6 p.m., with the boys’ game following.
Friday’s game was also LCHS’ homecoming. See Sunday’s Courier and www.coastalcourier.com for more.