The Long County High School girls fell 46-26 to Jeff Davis High School on Friday in Ludowici.
Both teams came out aggressive, but Jeff Davis out-rebounded the Lady Tide through the first two periods and at the break the Lady Jackets led 21-12. In the second half, Long County continued to show a lot of heart, but the baskets just wouldn’t fall as the Yellow Jackets pulled away.
The leading scorers for the Lady Tide were Mikalya Lovett, who had seven points, Raven Rose with six points, and Derrissa Crawford and Caitlyn Wingate, with four points each.
The game’s leading scorer was Jeff Davis’s Shakedra Robinson, who had 17 points.
Long County coach Kala Hires said her team had difficulty playing as a unit on defense.
“We have to work on our defense,” Hires said. “We do OK when the girls are one-on-one, but we have got to start defending five-on-five. All it takes is one of us to be out of place, and somebody has an easy shot.”
Though her team has been struggling early in the season, Hires said she sees potential.
“Lovett and Crawford don’t have a lot of experience, but they have a lot of potential and they’re good athletes… When they get more experience under their belt and start reacting on their own, there are going to be very good,” Hires said.
With the loss, the Long County girls fell to 0-4 overall. They played McIntosh County in Ludowici Tuesday. Results from that game will be in Friday’s paper. Also Friday, the girls take on the Bacon County Lady Red Raiders (2-2) in Alma. That game begins at 6 p.m.