Area high school basketball teams wrap up their regular seasons this week and will start region tournaments next week. All area teams will be on the road and a couple go in as the No. 1 seed as the Bulloch Academy lady Gators finished off the regular season with a perfect region record, and the Portal boys will look to cap off a perfect region record as they conclude the season Friday at Jenkins County.
For the Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets both the boys and girls hope to enter their region tournament with a little momentum. Tuesday the Jackets swept Metter with the girls winning 72-34 and the boys won 64-59. The Jackets rap up the regular season at Bryan County Friday.
The girls made easy work of the Tigers as they pulled out to a 27-0 lead and would then cruise to a 38 point victory. Alex Odom led the Jackets with 24 points, while Korine Talkington had 17 points and Addie Hood had 11 points.
“This is what we are capable of if we give a great effort and everyone is on the same page,” said SEB coach Marci Cochran. “I am glad we did this at this point as it is important with the region tournament starting Monday.”
For the Southeast Bulloch boys, they were in a back-and-forth battle with the Tigers down to the wore before holding them off by five points. Ryon Reed led the Jackets with 22 points. Zach Taylor had 12 points, Davis O’Dowd had 11, and Kyon Taylor had 10 points.
“It was senior night and sometimes that can go one of two ways,” said SEB coach Tony Raymond. “You can have a lot of energy and use it as a positive or it can be a negative. Tonight, it was a negative, but we were able to come out on top and hopefully we can win Friday against Bryan County and get to playing the way we want for the region tournament.”
The Yellow Jackets will host a doubleheader Monday beginning at 5:00 with the girls hosting New Hampstead. The boys will play afterwards against Islands. If the girls win, they clinch a state tournament spot, while the boys will have to travel to Wayne County where a win would get them into the state.
The Statesboro Blue Devil boys wrapped up the regular season with a 60-43 win at home over Bryan County. Kam Mikell led Statesboro with 15 points while Leslie Black and Nick Murray both had 14 points and James Flagg added 11 points. Statesboro concludes the regular season with a 16-7 record. The Blue Devils ended the region schedule tied for second place. Point differential put Statesboro as the No. 3 seed in the tournament and they will play Jenkins at 8:30 Monday at Ware County.
The Statesboro girls finished the season at 18-7 and 6-4 in region play and tied for third place. Point differential gave Ware County the edge over Statesboro and the Blue Devils placed fourth. Statesboro will next take on Coffee County Monday at 4:30 at Ware County.
The Portal Panthers finish the region and regular season at Jenkins County Friday night. The boys are the No. 1 seed and will not play until Thursday in the semifinals. The girls will play Tuesday at 4:00 against a team as of yet to be determined.
The Bulloch Academy Gators open the region tournament at Pinewood with the boys playing Tuesday at 7:00 and the girls Thursday at 7:00 against teams to be announced.
