Prior to his team’s Region 3A-DI game with Screven County last Friday night Bryan County girls basketball Coach Mario Mincey said, “This is going to be a tough one. They’re 9-1.”
After four quarters of play Mincey was asked, “What was so tough about this one?”
It was a natural question because the Redskins had just put the finishing touches on a 57-22 blowout win over the Gamecocks who have been a thorn under their skin since they were placed in the same region three years ago.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for Bryan County which was coming off losses at Glynn Academy (61-55) and at Montgomery County (60-51) which is ranked No. 2 in Class A-DII.
“The girls were really upset after losing at Montgomery County,” Mincey said. “We had Glynn Academy, and they’re a good Class 6A team, beat and let it get away. They weren’t happy with the way they played at Montgomery County which is also a really good team.
“They were really focused in practice and they were ready to play. This was a good game for us.”
Bryan County (11-2, 4-0) followed up with another blowout win as it beat Southeast Bulloch, 54-14, on Saturday night to set the stage for it to take control of the region regular season race.
The Redskins will face Savannah High (7-5, 5-0) at home Friday and take on Woodville-Tompkins (6-8, 2-2), also at home, next Tuesday. Both games will start at 6 p.m.
Wins in those two games would put Bryan County in excellent shape to garner one of the top two seeds for the region tournament which would mean an automatic bye into the semifinals and a state playoff berth.
Kayleigh Wedlow and Ashanti Brown, the team’s outside-inside combo, led the way against the Gamecocks with sophomore Liz Harvey coming off the bench to score 12 points. Wedlow is averaging 17 points per game and that’s what she had against Screven while Brown also met her averages of 14 points and 13 rebounds per game.
Harvey, who was all region in both softball and soccer last year as a freshman, is invaluable, Mincey said, coming off the bench.
Bryan County led 11-8 in the opening minute of the second quarter as the game was going as Mincey anticipated when Harvey hit a three-pointer from the left corner to start a 12-2 run that broke the game wide open.
Harvey finished the quarter with a steal and a layup for a 27-11 advantage at the break. Bryan County then outscored Screven 23-4 in the third quarter to turn it into a rout.
“She’s been playing well,” Mincey said of Harvey, who isn’t afraid to leave a little skin on the floor if necessary. “The big thing with Liz is she understands her role. She’s going to play defense and she knocked down a couple of shots tonight. She’s been in double figures a couple of other games, too.
“She was all-region in softball and soccer but people tend to forget she was also second team all-region in basketball last year,” Mincey said. “She comes in off the bench and gives us a spark. She plays hard.
“Liz models her game after Kenzie (Stucker) in that she plays good defense and plays hard. Kenzie is her role model just like the girls who came before Kenzie were her role models.”
Mincey has never shied away from scheduling good competition and he believes his non-region schedule, especially the games against Glynn and Montgomery County, have helped prepare his team for what he believes is going to be a competitive region race.
“I’m happy with where we are,” Mincey said. “Next Friday against Savannah is going to be a good one and then we’ve got Woodville which will be a good one, too. We’re going to need the same kind of effort in both of those games.”