Lady Braves fall in region semis; Brave season ends after Jordan loss

(Columbus, GA) — The Lady Braves fell 46-41 to Bremen in the Region 5-AA semifinals at Spencer High School Thursday afternoon.

The Lady Braves battled back after falling behind 13-5 early on to cut the early Blue Devil lead to just 13-12, but an 8-0 run would put the Devils back on top 21-12.

The Lady Braves cut the lead to 26-19 at the half before charging back to take a 33-31 lead after the third quarter.

Sophomore Mykhia Echols battles Bremen for a rebound in Thursday’s game

Unfortunately, it was all Devils in the fourth quarter as they pulled away for the five point tournament win.

Junior Sophia Long led the way in scoring for the Lady Braves with 20 while Zekylah Boyd had 10 and Jasmine Owens scored six.

The Lady Braves will return to Columbus Saturday where they will take on Callaway for the No. 3 seed in Region 5-AA.

The third place game will tip at 3:00 PM at Spencer High.

Coach Helen Akins’ squad will be on the road for round one of the Class AA State Playoffs next Friday versus a team from Region 7-AA in Northwest Georgia.

In boys’ action, the Braves season came to an end with a tough region tournament loss to the Jordan Red Jackets at Temple Tuesday afternoon.

The Braves fell 53-43 to finish at 6-19 in a rebuilding season under first year head Derek Smith. Ike O’Neal led the way with 14 points and Khalil Cofield had 11 in the loss.

The team showed marked improvement during the season and will graduate no seniors heading into next season.

“I think this season was a really good learning experience for these guys. As well as we played late in the season, I think a lot of people forgot that we started the season with only three players that had varsity experience — and only one that had really played,” said Coach Smith after the loss.

“Hopefully, we can take this loss and use it to motivate us in the summer as we head into next season. We’ve got a strong core and hopefully we can get these young guys a little more ready to play next year.”