Just as they had in the regular season, the Bulloch Academy boys made easy work of Trinity Dublin by a 73-60 score in the region 2-3A semifinal.
    The game was pretty on-brand for how BA handled region opponents as a whole during the regular season. The Gators are now 9-0 between postseason and regular season play against their region opponents, and Thursday’s game showed no signs of them slowing down.
    Despite the Crusaders giving BA a scare less than a week ago, BA came out playing like they were certain to never let Trinity have a lead in the game. Although Trinity did shoot basket for basket with BA in the first five minutes of the game, a 10-2 run powered by three consecutive three-pointers helped drive a sizable early gap for BA.
    “I still think we had that game from last Friday on our minds,” Dennard said. “We caught some good shooting from Steven, Dra and Don tonight.”
    Even as Trinity came back to cut the deficit to three at the beginning of the second quarter, BA responded with a 13-5 run powered by six straight points from Dra Harrison. Trinity would find some three’s of their own at the beginning of the third quarter to cut the lead to nine at 39-30, but that’s as close as the Crusaders would ever get.
    “Give Trinity credit, they never quit and found a way to shoot the ball a little bit,” Dennard said. “They’re a team you don’t want to leave hanging around.”
    BA outscored Trinity 29-17 in the third quarter, with a 21-11 run by the Gators in the final six minutes of the quarter ultimately sealing the separation. Steven Henry finished the game with 25 to lead all players, followed by 17 from Don Aaron and 16 from Harrison.
    BA (16-10, 8-0) will play for the region title tonight at 8:30 p.m. against Pinewood.

Lady Gators bow out in semifinal
    Every time Bulloch Academy’s played Pinewood this season, the Lady Gators have been able to chip away closer and closer to beating their nearby rivals.
    Unfortunately for BA, three just wasn’t enough.
    After losing to Pinewood by 16 and six in their first two meetings, Pinewood was able to lean on some key free throws down the stretch of the fourth quarter to best BA 45-34 in the region 2-3A semifinal.
    The key difference in Tuesday’s 61-56 play-in win and Thursday’s loss was the production of MiKay Sands. Pinewood sucked in their zone defense and forced Sands into a bubble barely the size of a basketball itself. Sands finished with 13 points — not even half of what she had against Edmund Burke.
    “When it gets right down to it, they’ve got a bunch of upperclassmen and we have one girl who can drive herself to practice,” said head coach Paul Webb. “Hats off to Pinewood, they’re a heck of a team.”
    BA trailed by as many as eight in the third quarter, but BA would respond by scoring three straight baskets while forcing four consecutive Pinewood misses. Now trailing 23-21, BA give up a three followed by another basket in between some Sands free throws. Then Abby Newton would cut the deficit to one with a three from the corner to make the score 28-27.
    Newton would follow right back with a reverse lay-in after a 1-for-2 trip at the line by Pinewood to tie the game for the first time since the first quarter. However at 29-29, Pinewood exerted their force two turnovers and two missed shots by BA, then converting buckets off those giveaways to give the Patriots a 33-29 lead going into the fourth quarter.
    “We made some good runs in the third quarter, really generated by our younger players too,” Webb said. “But in the end they were able to push through a game that wound up being really physical.”
    Pinewood would go on to own the fourth quarter, outscoring the Lady Gators 12-5 and holding Webb’s side to 1-for-8 shooting with four turnovers. No other Gator would reach double digit scoring in the game, with Newton being the second closest at eight points.
    BA (14-14, 2-6) will get a shot at securing the three-seed tonight against Frederica in the girls consolation game at 4 p.m.