Long County’s basketball teams picked up their first 2-AA Region wins of the year Tuesday, beating the Groves’ teams in Garden City.
In the boy’s game, the Blue Tide won 59-56 and the Lady Tide won 71-52.

The leading scorers for the Long County boys were Eric Shaw, 14 points, Perrell Brisbane, 14, and Henry Blair, 16.
Head coach Deshon Brock said the win wasn’t pretty, but he was pleased with his team’s effort.

“I thought we fought hard,” Brock said, “just made a few mental errors and got hurt on the boards, and that almost cost us. It was ugly, but I will take an ugly win any day of the week. We just have to get better and develop as a team.”

Brock also commended Shaw, Brisbane and Blair’s efforts.
“Henry played very well tonight, along with Perrell. They were constantly giving us points when we needed them,” the coach said. “And then Eric scored 12 of his 14 in the fourth quarter to help us close out the game.”

In the girls’ game, the leading scorers were Katie Estill, 11 points, Anazha Kincaid, 11, Mya Howard, 12, and Ellexus Wrighton, 12.
Head coach Brian Todd said his team got better as the night went on, and a big reason was several girls getting quality time on the court.

“Offensively, we got out to a slow start, but eventually our press wore them down,” Todd said. “We played 14 girls for a good period of the game and I think our depth really contributed to our second half surge.”

He was pleased with the offensive production of his team, but said that the defense must improve.
“We need to clean up our defense,” Todd said. “We have given up too many open looks the last couple of games. We are going to emphasize defensive pressure in our next week of practice. Offensively, I have been pleased, considering we have topped 70 points twice, so far this season.”

With the wins, Long County improved both overall records to 2-1 and region marks to 1-0. Friday, the Tide teams played McIntosh County Academy in region games in Ludowici. Details were not available by our press time.