STATESBORO – The Statesboro Blue Devils defeated the Bradwell Institute Tigers on senior night. These region wins put both Blue Devil teams in the running for the number one spot in the region. The Lady blue Devils defeated the Lady Tigers 66-60, and the Blue Devils defeated the Tigers 62-57.
The Girls Had A Hard Fought Win
The Lady Blue Devils went into this game with a vengeance. The last time they played the Lady Tigers, defeated the Lady Blue Devils 45-36. What killed the Lady Blue Devils in that match up was their missed free throws and their lack of shots made. They went 6 for 22 from the free throw line and many of the starters were in foul trouble on the other end of the ball.
In Saturday’s match up, the Lady Blue Devils went 19 for 28 from the free throw line. The Lady Tigers shot 7 for 18 from the free throw line. Statesboro ran a box-and-1 on Bradwell’s star player, which forced other players to score and stifled their offense. They held the Lady Tigers at bay by staying diligent from all areas on the floor and both ends of the ball.
Head coach Marty Holder was happy his team got the win and proud of his seniors and the impact they have had on him.
“I got here in June of 2020 and this is my first senior class,” Holder said. “They mean the world to me. They’re everything to me. I’m nothing without Demia Hartwell, Alyssa Staten, Shanaria White and Reya Johnson. They’ve given so much to this program, so much to me and I can’t do nothing except tell them thank you.”
Leading scorer for the Lady Blue Devils was senior Alyssa Staten with 23 points. That performance was followed by senior Reya Johnson with 15 points. Maggie O’Neil had 11 points, senior Demia Hartwell had 10 points, senior Shanaria White had five points, Lindsay Johnson had two points and Mikiyah Strickland added one point to the scoreboard.
The Boys Got The Job Done
The Blue Devils came out and played from beginning to end. The seniors on the team: Kam Mikell, Raylin Grant, Mike Goodman and Kyan McCollum set the tone and that trickled down to the rest of the team throughout the entire match up.
Head coach Keith LeGree talked about what it takes to go far and how as long as his team plays for each other they’ll do just that.
“If everybody just would buy in to whatever it takes to win the game for the team, individually everything else would take care of itself,” LeGree said.
Leading scorer for the Blue Devils ws senior Kam Mikell with 20 points on the night. That performance was followed by senior Raylin Grant with 19 points. JaCaiden Cone had 13 points, Camdyn Wilkerson and senior Mike Goodman both had four points and DJ Brown added two points to the scoreboard.
Up Next:
The Blue Devils will be back in action on Tuesday as they travel to Greenbrier to take on the Wolfpack. These are rescheduled match ups, so if the Blue Devils win these games, the Lady Blue Devils will be tied for first place in the region and the Blue Devils will have solidified first place for the guys. That means that the region tournament should be held at Statesboro. The Lady Blue Devils will tip off at 5 p.m. and the Blue Devils will follow directly after at 6:30 p.m.
