Liberty County’s Freddie McSwain recorded a double-double, helping the Panther boys’ basketball team earn a 61-53 win last Friday at Statesboro High in its first Region 3A-AAAA contest.
McSwain led in scoring with 20 points and had 15 rebounds. Jishaun Harris, Conner Bailey and Devion Mitchell added 16, 11 and 10 points, respectively. Mitchell almost had a double-double of his own with nine assists in the game.
On Saturday, the Panthers claimed a 53-51 win in Darien over McIntosh County Academy in a non-conference matchup. Mitchell topped the scorers with 21 points.
The Panthers, 10-4 overall and 1-0 in the region, were scheduled to play Tuesday at Long County. Results were unavailable at press time.
Liberty County will host South Effingham in another region game at 6 p.m. Friday.
LC — 15/13/17/16: 61
SHS — 12/15/13/13: 53
Liberty County scoring: Freddie McSwain 20, Jishaun Harris 16, Conner Bailey 11, Devion Mitchell 10, Joshua Powers 4

LC — 16/15/12/10: 53
MCA — 12/9/14/16: 51

GIRLS
The Liberty County Lady Panthers kept busy through the holidays playing in a tournament held at Brewton-Parker College on Dec. 26-28.
The Lady Panthers lost to Dodge County, 56-37, on Dec. 26. Lady Panther Kymberli Payno scored 12 points in the game. On Dec. 27, in the second game of the tournament, the Lady Panthers lost to Vidalia, 51-46. Jaelyn James led the girls with 14 points, and Brianna Reece chipped in 12. The Lady Panthers did beat Jeff Davis in the third game of the tournament, 43-13. Reece led in scoring with 16 points, and Tia Fleming added 13.
The Lady Panthers returned to action last Friday, when they lost their region opener at Statesboro High, 41-36. Final stats and scoring for the Statesboro game and Liberty’s game Saturday at McIntosh County Academy had not been posted by press time.
With the Statesboro loss, the Lady Panthers were 6-7 overall and 0-1 in region play.