The first time the First Presbyterian Christian Academy boys’ basketball team played at Brentwood this season, the Highlanders fell, 69-67, in Sandersville.
On Friday, the Highlanders got some revenge on the War Eagles by rolling 73-47 at the St. James Sports Center in a Georgia Independent School Association Region 2-AA contest.
That means the Highlanders hold a 5-1 region mark and a 10-5 overall record as they hit the home stretch. FPCA was scheduled to be in St. Simons on Saturday for a big region contest against Frederica.
The Highlanders have another region challenge with Memorial Day on Tuesday at home. Tuesday’s game is the Highlanders’ senior night; games will start at 6 p.m.
Meanwhile on Friday, the Liberty County High School squads hosted South Effingham and split with the Mustang teams. The Lady Panthers fell, 65-57, and the Panther boys won, 44-27, in region contests.
Lady Panther coach Carolyn Kelly said she was impressed with how well Jaelynn James and Emone Fisher held back Lady Mustang star Tianna Germain.
Germain normally averages 21.7 points per game, but double coverage by the Lady Panthers kept her in the single digits, effectively taking her out of the game. Liberty trailed by one at the end of the first and held a 29-22 halftime lead.
“I thought we had a chance to win tonight,” Kelly said. “We were right in there, but we had a breakdown with the second shots from our post player. The key spot on your court is that post player, and I don’t think people realize we are working with 14 freshmen this season, one of which, Latia Fleming, is playing that spot.”
Kelly said Fleming is showing remarkable talent as a starting freshman, and they have tweaked the defense to fit the style of players she has on the floor.
She added that Fleming is gaining valuable experience and said some of the work must also come from her veteran players in feeding the ball to the inside.
“We know we can expect at least eight-nine rebounds from Latia,” Kelly said. “We feel that she should be able to touch the ball a little bit more, and we are working on that, but our post player has to be able to give us more scoring than we have seen in the past.”
The girls will host Wayne County next Friday and travel Saturday to Brunswick. The Lady Panthers are 0-5 in Region 3A-AAAA and 2-12 overall
“Wayne County beat us on their court, but I think the teams are going to be surprised,” Kelly said. “Our record may not show it, but we’ve been improving little by little and tonight was a testimony that we are getting better to play this team as close as we did.”
In boys’ contest Friday, the Mustangs couldn’t hold off the Panthers’ speed or find the basket. Both teams came out strong defensively, but the game was pretty much over in the first quarter when the Liberty boys held a 10-2 lead.
Panther Michael Farrior opened the game with a 3-pointer and ended the night with 14 points to lead Liberty. The Mustangs managed only nine points the entire first half.
The Panthers are 8-13 overall and 2-4 in the region.
Next Friday’s game against Wayne County also is the Panthers’ senior-night game. The girls’ tip-off first at 6:30 p.m.


Girls
Mustangs 13|16|19|17 – 65
Shae Leverett 15, Hannah Anderson 12, Cate Anderson 12
Lady Panthers 12|10|17|18 – 57
Bryonna Graham 20, Brianna Reece 16
Boys
Panthers 10|6|9|19 – 44
Michael Farrior 14
Mustangs 2|7|6|12 – 27