Lady Braves bounce back for 3rd place at region tourney

(Columbus, GA) — The Heard County Lady Braves basketball team bounced back from a semifinal loss with a solid 46-17 win over rival Callaway Saturday afternoon to clinch the Region 5-AA No. 3 seed in the upcoming state playoffs.

The Lady Braves jumped out to a 26-8 lead at the half and never looked back in route to the win that gives the squad a third place finish in the region. Defensively, the squad held the Lady Cavs to just 10 points though the first three quarters of play.

Offensively, Sophia Long and Zekylah Boyd led the way with 14 and 10 points respectively. Seniors Morgan Kay and Tori Caldwell also had nice efforts with Kay scoring seven and Caldwell scoring five.

All Region 5-AA Tournament Lady Braves Zekylah Boyd (L) and Sophia Long (Photo: Kinley Cantrell)

Long and Boyd were honored by being named to the all-tournament team. Long averaged 17 points per game in the tourney while Boyd averaged 12.

The Lady Braves will now spend the week preparing for the GHSA Class AA State Playoffs although the first round opponent is still unclear due to inclement weather that postponed the Region 7-AA Championship games Saturday night.

Rockmart and Chattooga are currently scheduled to play the 7-AA title game Monday evening and the Lady Braves will travel north to face the loser of that game this Friday.

The Chattooga Indians are the top seed and hosting the title game. The Indians defeated Rockmart in both regular season meetings winning 64-48 at Chattooga and 42-38 at Rockmart.

If the Lady Braves can defeat the 7-AA opponent they would most likely travel to Early County in South Georgia for round two on February 19.

The Bremen Lady Blue Devils defeated Lamar County 47-42 to win the 5-AA Championship and earn the top seed after entering the tourney as the No. 3 seed. Lamar holds the No. 2 seed and Callaway comes away with the No. 4 seed.

In boys’ tourney action, Spencer took the Region 5-AA Championship with an 84-56 win over Callaway. Temple earned the No. 3 seed with a win over Jordan.

Stay tuned to HeardCitizen.com for further updates on the Lady Braves opponent and game times for the State tournament after Monday’s results.