The Bradwell Institute Lady Tigers left little room for doubt in a top-10 matchup Saturday.
The Lady Tigers, ranked No. 7 in the state among Class AAAAA teams, throttled the No. 6-ranked Brunswick Lady Pirates 71-45 Saturday at the Bradwell gym. The win also kept the Lady Tigers unbeaten in Region 1-AAAAA.
Bradwell forced 32 turnovers in the win.
“This team plays pretty good defense,” Lady Tigers coach Faye Baker said. “I noticed that this summer. And on offense, we were clicking.”
As an example of her players’ defense, senior Jamia Ousley raced down the court to nudge the ball out of bounds and break up a two-on-none Brunswick break.
Destini McLemore’s corner 3-pointer pushed Bradwell’s advantage to 32-14 before Brunswick closed the first half on a 6-0 run. But Ousley’s pull-up jumper made it 47-26, and Ja’Nya Bush’s leaner right before the third quarter ended stretched the lead to 58-30.
Bush’s hanging jumper gave the Lady Tigers a 64-31 lead in the fourth quarter.
Jakai Alston led Brunswick with 10 points and Martin Davis added nine.
Bush led all scorers with 19 points and had five assists. McLemore scored 17 points to go with seven rebounds, five assists and four steals, Ousley had 16 points and Mikayla Oliveira chipped in 13 points, eight boards and four steals. The Lady Tigers also got two points each from Kaydence Kern, Saniya Garner and Janiyah Blevins, who also logged six assists and eight steals.
The Lady Tigers followed that win up with a 56-24 rout of fellow region foe Statesboro on Tuesday, going to 19-0 on the season and 3-0 on the season.
Blevins had nine of her team-high 13 points in the fourth quarter while Oliveira and McLemore had 12 points each. Oliveira notched a double-double with 13 rebounds. Ousley had six points and five assists, Bush had five points and five steals and Blevins had five steals.
Kennedy Myers topped Statesboro with 16 points.
Bradwell’s defense held Calvary Day scoreless in the second and third quarters, paving the way for a 74-8 rout Friday. McLemore posted a double-double, with 23 points and 11 rebounds, just missing out on a triple double with nine steals. Garner had a career-best 12 points and Blevins added 10 points and five steals. Heather Garrett scored seven points and Kern and Oliveira had six points each.
Bradwell’s homestand ends Friday against South Effingham. The Lady Tigers begin a three-game road swing January 20 at Glynn Academy.
