It was by Bryan County standards a ragged game but Coach Mario Mincey was fine with his team’s play because the end result was a 22-point win and winning is the bottom line with the veteran coach.
“If it’s ragged and we win by 20 I’ll take it,” Mincey said after his team’s 46-24 victory Friday night over Savannah in a Region 3A-DII game.
The win, coming on the heels of a tough 68-63 loss at Metter on Tuesday night, didn’t come as easily as the final score indicated for the Redskins who are now ranked No. 2 in the state by the AJC.
Bryan County (7-1, 4-1) followed up with a 45-37 win Saturday afternoon against Bulloch Academy to set up a showdown at Screven County (5-2, 4-0) on Tuesday night. The Redskins, Gamecocks and Metter are the favorites in the region race.
Ashanti Brown scored 22 points and had 12 rebounds to lead the win over the Gators. Jasmine Mikell added 14 points to go with three assists and two steals. Liz Harvey had six rebounds along with three steals and three points.
The loss at Metter was Bryan County’s first regular season loss since it dropped a 60-51 decision at Montgomery County on Dec. 30, 2023, a stretch of 18 games. The win over Bulloch Academy ran its home court regular season win streak to 21 straight.
“I played a lot of kids against Savannah,” Mincey said. “I wanted to play [with] a lot of kids at different moments and in different situations. We had a lot of different combinations out there. When you’ve got kids who are playing jayvee and you get an opportunity to play them you do it.
“It’s going to look ragged but I’ve got to build some depth. I wanted to see some different people because I know what my main people can do.”
That decision to run a lot of little tested players into the game early was not a sign of Mincey taking a win over the Blue Jackets for granted but more of an indication of the confidence he has in the players he suits up for a varsity game.
In a slow start for both teams, junior guard Laney Sehr, who missed all of last year due to knee surgery, hit a running jumper in the lane to snap a 4-4 tie with 1:27 left in the first period. That gave the Redskins the lead for good and the first quarter ended with them on top 9-6.
It was 16-9 at the break with neither team shooting very well. Both teams were 3-for-10 at the foul line and their shooting percentage from the floor was much worse.
With Brown scoring 14 of her game high 18 points in the second half, the Redskins took command as they opened the third quarter on a 16-4 run to blow it wide open. Brown had 10 of the 16 and was dominant inside.
“Just let the game come to her,” said Mincey of the advice he gave Brown at the half. “That’s just letting everybody else do what they do, and if it comes down to it, she’ll be a little bit more assertive and we’ll just roll like that.”
Mikell added eight points while Harvey, Soniya Whitaker and Sehr had five each.
“I just wanted to see if we would come out and bounce back a little bit,” Mincey said. “They’re still a little stung about the Metter loss.”
The game at Metter, Mincey hopes, was an aberration as the Tigers hit an incredible 17 3-pointers on 32 attempts with seven coming in the first quarter as they jumped out to a 27-12 lead.
“I’ve been in coaching [for] 21 years and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Mincey said. “I’ve never seen a girls team make 17 3-pointers and I don’t think I’ve seen a boys’ team do it. I think they made two from the timeline.”
Brown turned in her best performance of the season as she scored 26 points and Mikell added 19. The Redskins trailed twice by 17 points, Mincey said, but clawed back to within two in the closing minute but the Tigers made a free throw and a tray to set the final score.
Bryan County will be at home on Friday against Wheeler County and then host South Effingham at 4pm on Saturday.