The Long County High School girls’ basketball team ended its season ended Monday with a 49-23 loss to Pierce County during the first round of the Region 2-AA tourney in Blackshear. 
Though the Lady Tide’s season is over, the Blue Tide boys’ postseason play begins at 5:30 p.m. today when they take on the winner of the quarterfinals game between Appling County and Tattnall County. 
The Tide men received a bye into the semi-finals of the 2-AA tournament due to the two teams being the No. 1 seed in the region’s regular-season standings.  That game is at Brewton-Parker. 
In Monday’s game, the Lady Tide were led in scoring by Derissa Crawford, who had seven points. 
Other players who scored included Brittany Hall with four points, Vontay Turner and Amandah Garvin with three points apiece and Troinna Murray  with two points.
Lady Tide head coach Ryan Bailey is looking  forward to next season, when Long County will try to improve on this season’s 0-25 record.
“It was a tough season, one that the ladies will not want to experience again,” Bailey said. “We struggled with the fundamentals of basketball, which ultimately led to our dismal year. It is my sincere hope that the Lady Blue Tide will put in the work in the off season to reap the rewards of victories during next year’s season.”
Though the Lady Tide had a disappointing year, LCHS athletic director Karen Swindell praised their efforts.
“The girls played hard this season and never quit,” she said. “We’re only losing four seniors because our team was very young this year, so a lot of the younger players gained valuable experience, which should help them next year.”
Next season’s projected seniors include Hall, Mikayla Lovett and Raven Rose. Projected juniors include Crawford, Murray, Kadeja Green and Kim Walker.
Swindell also commented on next year’s realignment and how it could help the girls’ basketball program.
“I believe that the region realignment is going to benefit our basketball teams,” she said. “We will be playing schools that roughly have the same enrollment as we do. This year, we were one of the smaller AA schools in our region, but next year, we will be towards the middle in size.”