Liberty County High School’s girls’ basketball team ended its season Monday night, losing to Burke County in the Region 3-AAAA tournament in Augusta.
The Lady Panthers fell, 57-53, to the lady Bears from Waynesboro. The Lady Panthers finished the year 14-10 overall and 4-2 in the 3A-AAAA sub-region.
The region tournament games were postponed from last week after bad weather left 90 percent of August without power.
The Panther boys finally got their chance to play in the semifinal game Tuesday evening against the host school, Butler High. The outcome of that game was not available by press time. The boys went into the game sporting an 18-6 overall mark and 5-1 sub-region record.
The winter weather that swept the northern part of the state last week has the state playoff bracket in limbo as many teams try to finish region play this week. The state playoffs are slated to start this weekend, with the girls’ games tipping-off Friday night and the boys’ tournament starting Saturday.
The Bradwell Institute boys’ basketball team is preparing for the first round of the state playoffs and will face Bainbridge on Saturday night in Decatur. The Bearcats are the second-place team from Region 1-AAAAA and, according to maxpreps.com, come into the state playoffs with a 17-11 overall record and 7-3 region mark.
Tiger head coach Rhett Hellgren said the coaching staff made the long drive to Columbus on Monday to watch the Bearcats in their region final game against Northside, which they lost, 64-62.
According to maxpreps.com, the Bearcats are led by sophomore standout Tyree Crump. In 27 games, the shooting guard has amassed 589 total points (21.8 points per game).
Hellgren said he knows his team can manage the Bearcats and will have to stay a step ahead of their defense, which changes throughout a game.