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Lady Tigers win nail-biter
Lady Panthers earn first region win
BriannaJohnson
Bradwell Institutes Brianna Johnson drives against the Coffee County defense Friday at BI. The Lady Tigers pulled out a 47-44 win. - photo by Patty Leon

Bradwell Institute’s basketball teams dove into Region 3-AAAAA play this week.
Friday night, however, the Lady Tigers eked out a 47-44 win against Coffee County at BI. The Tigers, however, lost, 69-43. The BI teams were on the road Tuesday at Glynn Academy where the boys fell, 62-45, and the girls lost, 48-35.
The Tigers fell to 2-17 overall and 1-7 in region play, while the Lady Tigers were 10-8 and 4-4, respectively.
Against Coffee, the Lady Tigers trailed by eight points within minutes of the game’s start. Coach Faye Baker gathered her players and had a heart-to-heart talk with them.
“We knew that Coffee County was going to come with their press and we worked so diligently on that yesterday at practice … but we got into the game situation and we went away from what we wanted to do … so we took the time out to settle them down and told them to take their time and find the open man. They did a better job of reading their pressure, and that was the key. We were able to get back into the game,” she said.
The pep talked worked, as the Lady Tigers slowly chipped away at the Lady Trojans’ lead. The visitors trailed by one point at intermission.
By the close of the third quarter, the Lady Tigers had a three-point lead.
With 31 seconds remaining, the Lady Tigers had a 45-44 lead and Journae’ Young was sent to the free-throw line and hit both of them.
Baker said when she saw Young set her feet at the line, she felt good about their chances.
“Anytime we go to the line, we need to convert as many as possible … as the old cliché goes, free throws wins games, so we definitely need to do a better job of converting from the line,” she said. “But I was very happy when Journae’, aka Birdie, went to the line and hit those key free throws late in the game. She has done that for us many times this year … she’s been clutch at the line during crucial times.”
Despite a few tense final seconds, the Lady Tigers secured the win.
Brianna Johnson scored 13. Myala Wells had nine points and was 5-of-6 at the line; Raina Richardson also had nine points, including one 3-pointer. Jakaria Fleming scored five points including a 3-pointer; Alyssa McDuffie also hit a 3. Young added four points. Kieria Martin and Autiana Hightower had two points each.
The Tigers are at Ware County on Tuesday starting at 6 p.m.

Girls
Bradwell: 10|15|14|8= 47
Coffee: 15|9|12|8=44

LIBERTY COUNTY
The Liberty County High School teams earned two home sweeps last week. On Friday night, the Lady Panthers stomped Windsor Forest, 57-33, for their first Region 3-AAAA win of the season and moved their record to 4-9 overall and 1-2 in region play.
The Panthers had no trouble downing the Knights, 64-52, improving to 12-4 and 2-1.
On Tuesday against Richmond Hill in non-region games, The Lady Panthers won, 54-45, and the Panther boys downed the Wildcats 65-46.
Liberty County is at Wayne County next Friday.

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