STATESBORO – The Statesboro Blue Devils started their run for the state playoffs in a dominant fashion as they swept the first round easily. The Lady Blue Devils took on the Chamblee Bulldogs where they defeated them 70-24 and the Blue Devils took on the M. L. King Lions where they won 56-37.
The Girls Bounced Back Big Time
The Lady Blue Devils are coming off a tough loss in the region championship game last Saturday against the Ware County Gators, so they used Wednesday night’s game as a chance to redeem themselves and it paid off big time.
The girls came out the gate swinging and didn’t let up. Senior guard, Shanaria White, had a breakout game scoring eight of her 14 points in the first quarter. The Lady Blue Devils outscored the Bulldogs by more than 10 points every quarter. Head coach Marty Holder was proud of how his team bounced back and explained what they need to do to continue to do well in the playoffs.
“That region championship loss was a good loss for us because it woke us up again,” Holder said. “So now this is the product of what you see now so I’m proud of every single girl that touched that floor tonight.”
Leading scorer for the girls game was Alyssa Staten with 19 points. Following that performance with 14 points on the night was Shanaria White. Reya Johnson had 11 points, Mikiyah Strickland had nine points, Demia Hartwell had seven points, Maggie O’Neil had six points, Kennedy Myers and Lakeya Eason had two points each to add to the scoreboard.
The Boys Continue Their Winning Streak
The Blue Devils are coming off a region championship win against Bradwell where they defeated the Tigers by one point. This go around, the Blue Devils didn’t want any dispute that they were the winners because they were dominant the whole way through the game.
The Boys won in a similar fashion as the girl outscoring the Lions by more than 10 points in each quarter. The Blue Devils opened with a 11-4 scoring run over the Lions, got to a 27-6 lead at the half, and stormed to a 43-17 lead by the end of the third. The Lions tried to fight back into the game closing a 20 point lead to a nine point lead with a 26-13 scoring margin over the Blue Devils, but couldn’t seem to keep closing that gap before time officially ran out.
Head coach Keith Legree was happy with the success his team has had, especially within the last two weeks where the Blue Devils seemed to lock-in to the seriousness of the situation they were in.
“I give the credit to them [his team],” LeGree said. “Starting from the last two weeks of the regular season to now it’s been lights out at practice. I haven’t had to do a whole lot of yelling because the guys have been coaching themselves.”
The Leading scorer for the Blue Devils was Raylin Grant with 17 points. Following him was Kam Mikell with 12 points. Ja’caiden Cone, Mike Goodman and DJ Brown each had six points. Muhammad Shareef had five points. Camdyn Wikerson with three points on the night, and Marcus Hartwell with 1 point.
Up Next:
The Devils will be back in action on Friday and Saturday for the second round of the GHSA Division 1 Class 5A State Playoffs. The Lady Blue Devils will travel to Union Grove to take on the Wolverines at 6 pm on Friday. The Blue Devils will be back in action on Saturday with home court advantage again as they take on Dutchtown at 6 pm.
Join Statesboro High School as they have a community send off and pep rally on Friday at 10:30 am at the gym entrance circle to send the Blue Devils off True Blue style.
