Bradwell Institute’s basketball teams both notched Region 3B-AAAAA wins Friday when the boys pulled off a last-minute 51-48 victory and the girls kept their lead — despite some turnovers — for a 59-43 finish.

Lady Tigers

The girls came out strong and pressed well in the first quarter of action, outscoring the Lady Knights 16-4.
But in the second and third quarters of play, the Lady Tigers’ passes became sloppy, allowing for turnovers and takeaways. The girls also failed to cover Lady Knight Ty Reynolds, allowing her to hit two trey shots apiece in the second and third quarters en route to her 24-point game contribution. Windsor Forest closed the gap.
The girls pulled ahead again after back-to-back steals by Akeyla Richardson, who capitalized on both and later hit another shot off a pass from Shaquoia Crockett.
New transfer student Jakaria Fleming and senior Kelissa Hargrove also provided valuable minutes.
Crockett, Richardson, Hargrove and Fleming all scored in the double digits with 15, 13, 10 and 10 points, respectively.
But many easy shots were missed and even thought the girls improved to 3-0 in Region 3B-AAAAA, Lady Tiger coach Faye Baker was not pleased with what she saw on the court.
“There were a lot of things wrong,” she said. “I’m not happy at all with that win. We did not execute, not running our offense and did not transition back to defense, which allowed them easy layups. There were turnovers and just bad decision-making. I’m just not happy at all.”
However, the coach conceded that Hargrove played well, and said Fleming still is learning the system but will be an asset to the team.
“She shoots the ball well and she will be a good defensive player for us also,” Baker said.
The Lady Tigers are 3-6 overall and 3-0 in the region.
Lady Tigers 16|21|17|5 - 59
Lady Knights 4|16|12|11 – 43

Tiger boys
The Tiger boys knew they had a big battle on their hands as the Knights are a well-coached, typically balanced team. Tiger coach Rhett Hellgren gave his boys a pep talk before the game, saying, “Guys, I want this one.”
With that in mind, the boys battled back and forth. The Tiger boys scored first, but the Knights matched them bucket for bucket, closing the first quarter with the game tied at 14.
As half time approached, the Tigers had a two-point advantage but the Knights capitalized on two back-to-back steals just before the break. The Knights came into the second half with a 32-26 lead.
And in the third quarter, Hellgren saw his team fall behind by 12 points and called a time out. Malcolm Dingle hit a shot and drew a foul for one. Then he hit a layup and drew another foul for two shots. Cameron Kight went 2-for-2 at the line. By the close of the third, the Tigers trailed by only 3 points.
The fourth quarter was a fight to the finish as the squads swapped leads, keeping the point margin within two. Miguel Pineda tied the game at 44 with a trey shot with three minutes left. Moments later, the Tiger boys went up 49-46, but the Knights got a steal and came within one. The Tigers pulled ahead with a layup and nabbed a steal, but the Knights managed to get the ball back and lined up a pass to a player who was set up for a trey shot. He launched it just before the buzzer, but it bounced off the rim and out of play.
The boys improved to 6-2 overall and 3-0 in the region.
Bradwell Institute was scheduled to play McIntosh County Academy yesterday in a non-conference game.
Tiger boys 14|12|13|12 – 51
Knights 14|18|10|6 – 48