Bradwell girls basketball team beats Jenkins in matchup of top area programs

It was an early season matchup between two of the top girls basketball teams in the Coastal Empire as Jenkins, which reached the Class 3A Final Four last season, hosted Bradwell Institute, a Class 5A semifinalist, in the SCCPSS Holiday Classic Showcase Friday.

Bradwell rode a strong defense and shared the ball well as the Tigers improved to 10-0 on the season with a 53-26 victory.

Jenkins (6-2) had a long week as most of the girls on the squad are also standouts on the Warrior flag football team that played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Monday in the Class 3A state title game. Greenbrier won its third straight state crown as it edged Jenkins 20-13. Now the Warriors are shifting over to basketball mode.

Bradwell has been hit hard by the flu as the boys team had to drop out of the tournament due to illness. Veteran Tiger girls coach Faye Baker was without starting point guard Janiyah Blevins, who stayed home with the flu.

"I was impressed with our defense tonight, especially in the second half," said Baker, in her 31st season leading the program at her alma mater. "Jenkins was shooting lights out in the first half, but our girls did an exceptional job with adjustments in the second half. And we moved the ball around well on offense, which gave us some good looks."

Jamia Ousley and sophomore Destini McLemore led the Tigers with 14 points each, while junior Mikayla Oliveira had 11 while setting the tone with her rebounding ability. Ja'Nya Bush added eight points for Bradwell.

The Tigers graduated senior star Parris Parham, who was the All-Greater Savannah Player of the Year last season and now plays at West Georgia. But Baker said this year's team is ready for another postseason run.

"That was the beauty of last year's team, we were so deep and we had a nucleus of talented players coming back who had that valuable experience from the playoffs," Baker said. "We want to go as far as we can, but we don't want to make any predictions yet. We just want our players to play their roles so we can jell as a team."

Jenkins closed to within 19-16 with two minutes left in the first half, but Bradwell closed on a 6-0 run and outscored the Warriors by 18 after intermission to pull away. A'Niyah Browner and Ke'Ara Jones had six points each for the Warriors.

Jenkins coach Brianna Brooker, who also coaches the flag football team, said her players are making the move to the basketball court.

"We're trying to get back into the swing of things with basketball and it's going to take us a minute to make the transition," said Brooker, whose basketball team lost in the state semis last year to eventual champion Cherokee Bluff on a buzzer beater. "In flag, you move around a lot, but it's not as fast paced as basketball is with the non-stop motion. Bradwell is a great team and they are very well coached. I played against coach Baker's teams when I was in high school and she is a Coastal Empire legend. They played great D and moved the ball around well tonight.

"We've got a tough stretch of games coming up, but I like having that tough schedule because it prepares you for the playoffs."

Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at [email protected]. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Bradwell girls basketball beats Jenkins in battle of two Final 4 squads