The Liberty County High School boys’ basketball team has fallen only once so far this year. That loss was in the preseason scrimmage against Bradwell.
Since then, the Panthers have pounced on every opponent, and on Friday, they improved to 8-0 with a 57-45 win over visiting Beach. The Lady Panthers also faced Beach, but Lady Bulldog sharpshooter Amber Curtis led the visitors in throttling the Liberty girls, 75-17.
Girls’ game
Anything that could go wrong did so for the Lady Panthers. Senior center Courtney Rhodes, who normally provides for the rebounds and inside game, was sitting on the bench due to an injury sustained last week against Long County. Lady Panther Brianna Reece, who normally scores well, was double-teamed and held scoreless.
Passes were stolen, easy layups were missed and then, of course, there were the Lady Bulldogs.
Coach Ronald Booker always has managed to deliver a strong team, and it seems this year is no different, especially with Curtis, who put up 24 points in two and a half quarters of play.
By the middle of the third quarter, Curtis fed the ball to Jada Young, who scored 12, and the Lady Panthers could not catch up.
They trailed, 39-9, by halftime and only managed to put up 17 points in the game.
The Lady Panthers are 5-3 overall and are off until Jan. 6, when they host Richmond Hill in 2A-AAAA action.
Beach 13 26 21 15 — 75
Liberty 4 5 4 4 — 17
Liberty: Diamone Johnson 4, Emone Fisher 5, Kymberli Payno 3, Jasmina Smith 3, Tiara Howard 2.
Boys’ game
Liberty County senior shooting guard Sayvon Wilson paced the Panthers with 19 points as the home team defeated the Bulldogs, 57-45, on Friday night.
Junior Aaron Scott added 10 points to score in the double digits in Friday’s non-region contest against Beach.
The game was tied, 4-4, with 5:02 in the first when Liberty opened up and scored 12 unanswered points. Beach managed to hit one from the line and added two layups but trailed, 18-9, at the end of the quarter.
The Bulldogs adjusted their defense and managed to hold the Panthers to six points in the second, trailing by one at intermission.
But Wilson chipped in 15 of his 19 points in the second half, and Derrick Brooks was 5 of 6 from the line to keep the Panthers ahead. Scott also landed 8 of his 10 points in the fourth quarter to outpace the Bulldogs for the win.
Liberty is 8-0 overall and next will head to the Statesboro Tournament, where the Panthers will face Mundy’s Mill on Dec. 28
Beach 9 14 14 8 — 45
Liberty 18 6 14 19 — 57
Liberty: Derrick Brooks 7, Deante Bacon 6, Michael Farrior 7, Sayvon Wilson 19, Aaron Scott 10, Timothy Brown 1, Conner Bailey 7.
Note
In other basketball news, Faith Baptist Christian Academy beat Bible Baptist, 82-63, on Monday in Savannah. Crusader JJ Frazier scored a game-high 44 points. Keldon McCrary and Kirk Hill hit double digits with 12 and 10 points, respectively. The Crusader are 7-4 overall.