STATESBORO – The Blue Devils and Panthers battled it out at a neutral site on Tuesday evening. Due to a bigger crowd than usual, the first matchup between county rivals took place at Georgia Southern’s Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Statesboro High Lady Devils handled the Panthers 59-29 in the first game of the doubleheader. Defense was a focal point in the win for Statesboro as they held Portal to only ten points in the first half. Statesboro girls varsity head coach, Marty Holder, talked about how important it was to start off strong.
“We wanted to jump out on them defensively,” Holder said. “If we make that commitment every single game to play that way, nobody can stop us.”
Senior Alyssa Staten once again made her mark on the game as she finished with 22 points. Senior Reya Johnson followed up with 17 points of her own. Tempers flared on both sides as time expired in the game. Players had to be split up. Coach Holder spoke on what this matchup means to the teams.
“Anytime you got Statesboro versus Portal or Statesboro versus Southeast, tempers are going to flare,” Holder said. “When we play each other there are rivalries and they do exist and they’ve been there for years.”
The Blue Devils record improves to 5-1 on the season, while the Panthers fall to 3-3.
The boys’ game was completely opposite to how the girls game went. It was a back and forth affair all game long that ended with the Panthers on top with a final score of 60-56.
Going into the fourth quarter, the two teams were almost at a deadlock with the score being 46-45 with the Blue Devils being ahead. Costly turnovers and missed opportunities led to the game slipping away from Statesboro.
Things seemed all but over when Portal senior, Amir Jackson, stole a pass and spiked a windmill slam to put the Panthers up 57-53 late in the fourth quarter. However, the Blue Devils showed life when sophomore Ja’caiden Cone grabbed the ball off a missed free throw and scored an and-one layup to make it the score 57-56 with 58 seconds left in the game.
After missed free throws by the Panthers, Cone had a chance to tie the game with a floater that hit the back of the rim. The Blue Devils had two more chances at a game-tying basket, but they did not fall.
It was a playoff atmosphere all game and Statesboro boys head coach, Keith Legree, felt like his team did not play a bad game.
“They played hard, they were up for the challenge,” Legree said.
The disparity in free throw shooting made the difference in this game. The Panthers went 24-28 from the free throw line, while the Blue Devils shot 3-13. Coach Legree cited execution as another reason why they lost the game.
“We didn’t execute anything that we were supposed to,” Legree said. “We were just burping up shots and they happened to go in. We were playing too fast and were not making them work on the offensive end.”
Seniors on both sides shined in this county matchup. Statesboro’s Raylin Grant led all scorers with 24 points in the game. Portal’s Amir Jackson responded with 22 points of his own.
The Blue Devils take their first loss to fall to a 4-1 record, while the Panthers remain undefeated at 4-0.
UP NEXT:
Next for the Blue Devils, they will travel to Richmond Hill to battle the Wildcats on Friday, December 8th. The girls will tip off at 6:00 p.m. followed by the boys at 7:30.
The Portal boys varsity team will take a trip to Effingham County to matchup with the Rebels on Friday, December 8th. The game will tip off at 8:00 p.m. The girls varsity team will be on the road to take on the Evans Knights on Saturday, December 9th. Their game will tip off at 6:00 p.m.
