Liberty County High School earned their first Region 2A-AAAA wins Friday night against Wayne County. The Lady Panthers won 52-44 and the Panther boys earned a 66-59 win over Wayne. Over at Bradwell, the girls beat Savannah High 51-38 and the boys fell 91-68 to the Blue Jackets.
Lady Panthers coach Carolyn Kelly said her girls didn’t play as well as she planned but was grateful they were able to convert points late in the game for the win. She said during the past three games they’ve been able to force turnovers but not able to convert points costing the squad victories.
“Our defense is not clicking right now and I have to go back in and find out where we are having trouble at,” Kelly said. “Offensively our shooting is not where it needs to be. We did not shoot the ball well from the outside and we got scattered about what play to run and people not being where they are supposed to be.”
Brianna Reece led the Lady Panthers with 13 points. Courtney Rhodes finished with 10 and Diamone Johnson had eight points. Rounding out the scoring were Tiara Howard with six, Bryonna Graham with six, Emone Fisher had 5 and Kymberli Payno scored four points.
The Lady Panthers are 7-5 overall and 1-2 in Region 2A-AAAA.
Hannah Thomas scored 22 points for Wayne County.
Lady Tigers 51, Lady Blue Jackets 38
Bradwell coach Faye Baker said her defense has also been struggling with converting baskets off transition, but Friday night against Savannah High that issued seemed to have cleared itself The girls managed to force the turnovers and kept a lead throughout the game.
“We did a pretty good job on offense tonight, but I was really impressed with our defensive intensity,” Baker said. “We played man all night long and we were able to rattle them, get some steals and make some easy baskets in transition and it was good to see that.”
The Lady Tigers improved to 7-7 overall and 5-3 in Region 3-AAAAA. Baker said the big test is coming up against Beach High on Tuesday. It will be the third time the teams play each other and Baker knows Beach will be leaving it all on the floor and defending their home gym.
“We definitely don’t match up with Beach,” Baker said. “They are big so we are definitely going to have to try and get some easy baskets in transition by generating good defense.”
No individual stats were available.
Boys
Liberty County 66, Wayne County 59
Faced with the possibility of dropping to 0-3 in Region 2A-AAAA, the Liberty boys matched basket for basket against Wayne County Friday night at home. The Panther boys pulled away in the end to win 66-59.
The Panthers improved to 13-2 overall and 1-2 in Region 2A-AAAA.
Savannah High 91, Bradwell 68
At Bradwell, the Tiger boys had the game tied at 25 at the close of the first quarter. They trailed 46-40 at halftime and by eight at the close of the third quarter.
 In the final quarter the Tigers had some costly turnovers and Blue Jacket Russell Fumble scored 14 of his 22 points and had seven rebounds to lead Savannah to a 91-68 win.
Dajzon Tinae led Bradwell with 20 points. Miguel Pineda and Jalen Watson finished with 16 and 10 points, respectively. Also scoring were Javenty Richey with eight, Jamorris Hill with six, Darius Mawbrey with four and Larry Murray with four points.
On Tuesday, Bradwell travels to Beach and Liberty will play host to region opponent Ware County.
The girls play first and both squads tip-off at 6 p.m.