The Blue Tide continued to turn their season around, with another win Friday over Pierce County. Playing in front of the home fans in Ludowici, the Blue and White beat a tough Bear team 68-61.
In the game, Long County jumped out early, leading 13-9 at the end of the first period, however in the second period the Bears out shot the home team 20-15 to take a 29-28 lead at half.
In the third, Pierce came out hot and extended their lead to 34-28, but the Tide worked their way back, tying at 42 late in the quarter. Then with 34 seconds left in the period, Akeem Boyd hit a long 3 pointer.
When the final quarter began at 45-42, the Bears scored a quick field goal to narrow the lead, but on the Tide’s next possession, Boyd got the ball outside, and scored another long three. And the shot seem to seal the fate for the Bears.
"I was thoroughly pleased and impressed with their play tonight, we had a couple of starters not in the game, and had a lot of freshmen playing. They stepped it up and played well," Tide coach Deshon Brock said.
"Robert Reed played well, Chris LaRochester had some big rebounds and a couple of blocked shots. Jamal Anderson, this was only his third career start and he made some plays. Akeem Boyd had two big threes and two big steals. I was very pleased tonight."
One area where team showed much improvement was in shooting free throws.
"We definitely showed improvement tonight, we shot at a high rate, and in a close game you have to do that to get the win," Brock said.
The Tide was led in scoring by Akeem Boyd with 6, Donte Brown with 8, Robert Reed with 10, Jamal Anderson with 15 and Justin Boyd with 25 points.
With the win, the Tide improved their overall record to 9-10 and in Region 2-AA to 7-4 for third place.
This Tuesday, Long County takes on Charlton County in Folkston. The Indians are 4-6 in the region and 6-7 overall. When the teams met earlier this season Ludowici won 66-64. The game jumps off at 7:30 p.m.
Long girls beat Bears
The Long County High School girls basketball team beat Peirce County Friday 45-37 in Ludowici, ending a seven-game losing streak.
Though the girls from Ludowici won the game, at half-time it looked dismal for the home team as they trailed 19-24. However in the third period, the Lady Tide only allowed 5 points against them, while they put up 16 points to take a 35-29 lead into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, the Ludowici girls continued to play aggressive defense and smart offense, and outscored the visitors 10-8 to close out.
"This was probably our best overall performance of the year. In practice we did hustle drills quite a bit, and it showed tonight with all of our team hustling thorough out the whole game," Lady Tide coach Ryan Bailey said.
One of the big reasons that the Tide showed improvement in the Pierce County game, was due to 6 foot 1 inch Caela LaRochester being back at full speed, after being cleared by doctors to play.
"Tonight she (LaRochester) was in full force. It's like night and day having her back. She knows our entire system, and she provides leadership on and off the court," Bailey said.
He said he was proud of the whole team, but also recognized the individual effort of India Gamble and Tashanna Livingston.
Leading the Lady Tide in scoring was Miranda McDowell and Rhea Rose with 5 points, Jamika Boyd and LaRochester with 7, and Shamika Richardson and India Gamble with 9 points.
With the win, the girls improved their overall record to 2-16 overall and 2-9 in the 2-AA Region.
The Tide travel to Folkston this Tuesday to tangle with the Lady Indians.
The Charlton County team brings a 1-13 overall record into the game and an 0-11 region record in. In the last game between the two teams the Lady Tide won 56-51. Game time is 6 p.m.