The Long County High School basketball teams on Friday split with Toombs County in Ludowici, as the boys picked up a win, while the girls fell.
The Blue Tide took a 20-11 first-period lead and rolled from there en route to a 73-65 win. Long County’s James Francis led all players with 27 points. Vanda Vereen Jr. added 11 points and Danaron Anderson and Clay Strickland each had 10 points.  
With the win, the Blue Tide improved their overall record to 3-5 and their Region 2B-AA mark to 2-2. According to maxpreps.com, they now sit in the third spot in their sub-region behind McIntosh County (2-0 in region and 3-3 overall) and Metter (2-0 and 3-5). With the loss, the Bulldogs fell to 1-8 overall and 0-5 in the region.
In Friday’s early game, the Lady Tide took an early 9-8 lead over Toombs County, but were outscored in the second period, 17-8, en route to the 48-36 defeat. Malaka Elix led the Lady Tide with 13 points and Elexxus Wrighton posted nine. Kat Wingate put in five points, Keke Calhoun added four, Tyronica Johnson had three, and Katie Estill had two points.  
Though his team lost, Long County head coach Brian Todd said he was pleased with his team’s effort and the individual play of Wrighton and Johnson.
“They were a lot more physical than us, but we did keep fighting,” he said. “Elexxus had 22 rebounds, and Tyronica Johnson held their best player to nine points … if I had to say one thing that was the difference in the game, it was that we didn’t shoot the ball really well.”
With the loss, the Lady Tide fell to 1-8 overall and 1-3 in the region, while the Lady Bulldogs improved to 4-4 and 4-2.
The Blue Tide play in the Boy’s Hoopfest starting Thursday in Thomasville. Long County plays Randolph Clay at 11:30 a.m. The tourney runs through Saturday.
Next action for the Lady Tide is the Girl’s Christmas Bash starting Friday in Portal. Long County plays Georgia Military at 1 p.m. Friday, Mount Pisgah at 1 p.m. Saturday and Portal at 4 p.m. Monday.