The Statesboro girls dominated their own tournament, sweeping through the competition to defeat Screven County Tuesday night in the Ladies’ Night Out tournament at the Devils’ Den.
    The Lady Devils (4-0) got an early test from the Gamecocks (0-2) but caught fire in the second quarter and ran away with a 46-33 win.
    “We played OK tonight,” said SHS coach Jeff Seier. “We’re still out some starters, but we’re working toward where we want to be. We hit a few jumpers when we had to and we played well when we really needed it.”
    As one of the few returning starters from last year’s talented Statesboro squad, junior forward Shanikwa Buie has wasted no time in becoming the on-court leader for this year’s edition of the Devils.
    Buie led all scorers with 22 points and pulled down eight rebounds Tuesday night. For the tournament, Buie notched a total of 39 points and 19 rebounds.
    Tanice Johnson came through with 14 points and Niya Drummer pulled down six rebounds in the win.
    Despite the Devils’ dominance, Screven was able to throw a few punches early on.
    Courtney Roberts scored four of her team-high 14 points in the first quarter as the Lady Gamecocks took a 10-7 lead after the first eight minutes of play.
    But then the Devils hit the switch.
    A 3 from Roberts stretched the Screven lead to 16-11 early in the second quarter, but two inside buckets and a 3 from Buie pushed Statesboro out in front.
    Buie also added a steal — and ended the transition run with a layup — to help the Devils to a 23-18 halftime advantage.
    “Buie was able to do it all tonight,” said Seier. “She was a force offensively and also shut down Screven’s game inside. We really needed her tonight.”
    Coming out of the break, another Devil took over.
    Tanice Johnson saw plenty of time as a reserve last season, but made her presence known as a prime player Tuesday night. Johnson began the second half scoring with a 3 and — after an inside shot from Buie and a 3 from Screven’s Portia Long (9 points) — hit another long 3.
    A quick steal by the Devils was capped off by a Johnson layup as the Devils jumped out to a 35-21
lead.
    “We’ve been on her for a while to be more aggressive with the ball,” said Seier. “We didn’t know that she would be so good from outside, but she got us some big shots when we needed them.”
    Statesboro sustained its lead throughout the third quarter and Buie struck from inside just before the buzzer to make it a 37-25 SHS advantage heading into the final eight minutes of play.
    Roberts hit a 3 in the first minute of the fourth quarter to keep the Gamecocks competitive, but Johnson answered in kind to keep the Devils comfortably out in front. Drummer added a pair of buckets inside the paint to help Statesboro pull away and the Devils were easily able to run clock and notch another win.
    “We’re glad to get the win, but it was good to have a game like that,” said Seier. “We needed to have a game where we were under some pressure and I like the way that our team responded.”
    The Devils now take a break over Thanksgiving weekend, but will put their unblemished record on the line next Tuesday as they take on Effingham County at 6 p.m.

    Mike Anthony may be reached at (912) 489-9404.