The Long County Blue Tide basketball seasons are coming down to the wire with just a handful of games left in the regular season. On Tuesday, Jan 30, they closed out the first month of 2024 with a sweep of the Savannah Christian Red Raiders in a key region game.
The Lady Tide opened the night against the Lady Raiders looking to bounce back from an 0-3 region record the week before and claimed a 54-39 victory.
They went down 4-0 in the first 1:15 of the game, but rebounded on a 12-0 run over the next 2:15 to take a 12-4 lead.
Their run was paced by the team going 3-of-4 from 3-point range as they built their lead in the first quarter. The back half of the first quarter was pretty evenly matched as the Tide led 17-8 going into the second quarter.
The Tide held the Raiders in check again, outscoring them 15-7 in the quarter. Makinzie Moody continued her impressive night as she connected on her third 3-pointer and built up her point total to 17 while adding four steals.
It was a 32-15 lead for the Lady Tide at the half and they didn’t seem let up in the third quarter. The Raiders did manage to cut the Tide’s lead down to just 11 points, but they worked it back up to a 21-point lead with a 7-0 run to close the quarter.
Moody finished the night with a career-high 30 points and 7 steals.
The Lady Tide moved to 9-11 and 7-5 in the region with the win.
The boys came off a pulse-pounding 55-54 win over Savannah Country Day the previous Friday and rolled to an easy 63-40 victory over the Raiders.
It looked like they would do just that as they worked an 11-0 run into the final two minutes of the quarter as the Raiders only managed two points off free throws and were 0-6 from the floor.
Despite going 1-of-7 from 3 in the first quarter, the Tide led 13-2 going into the second. Their struggles from 3 continued in the second as they missed their first two attempts before freshman Zion Thomas hit a shot at the 4:45 mark.
Thomas’ shot was the Tide’s first bucket of the second quarter as they were 0-of-5 from the field before his make. The Raiders went on a 6-0 run to make the score 13-8 before Thomas’ 3 made it an eight-point game.
That eight-point lead held as the Tide led 25-17 in the low-scoring contest. Thomas led with 11 points.
As usual with the Tide, they turned things on in the third quarter, scoring 23 points. They were led by Roderick Randall, who hit four 3s in the quarter and scored 12 points.
The Tide led 48-31 in going into the fourth quarter and held the Raiders to just nine points in the final period. Randall hit another three, capping his night with 15 points, while Thomas secured his first career double-double as he pulled down three more rebounds to put him at 12 for the night with 20 points.
The Tide improved to 16-5 and 6-4 in the region. The host of the region tournament comes down to the final four games of the year as the Tide play at Calvary Day on Friday, Feb. 2 and host Johnson for their final home game of the year on Saturday, Feb 3.
They will then play at Beach next Tuesday and at Liberty County next Friday. They will likely need to win out and get some help from around the region to be able to host the region tournament.
Currently, the Panthers and Groves Rebels sit atop the region tied at 8-3 on the season. The Atomsmashers are third at 7-3 and the Tide are fourth.