The Greenville girls all but wrapped up the area title with a 54-43 win over Wilcox County Friday night.

“I was really proud of our play, and we had an abundance of scoring from everyone,” said head coach Ronald Bogan.

Nikia Powell led the Tigers with 18 points, while Amber Andrews scored 12, Nicole Norton added 12 and Lakeidra Savage had eight.

The Tigers trailed 16-12 at halftime, but came on strong in the second half.

“In the second half, we turned up the intensity,” Bogan said. “We scored 22 in the third quarter, but held them to nine.”

Following the big win against Wilcox, the Tigers faced off against J.F. Shields in Beatrice on Saturday.

“We had a huge letdown,” Bogan said, commenting on the 32-14 loss. “We just couldn’t get anything together.”

“Our offensive sets were good, but we just couldn’t convert,” he added.

At halftime, the Tigers trailed 25-9.

“They did most of the their scoring in the first half, but we were already struggling,” Bogan said. “Part of that is my fault because we were still riding high after the big game against Wilcox. We want to be competitive in all games, not just our area games.”

The Greenville boys’ area hopes were hurt against Wilcox with a 77-57 loss Friday night.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 0-3 in the region.

Friday’s game against Monroe County will help determine whether the area tournament will be held in Monroe or Wilcox.

“We wouldn’t mind having it here, but that’s the situation we’ve put ourselves in,” said head coach Bryant Marlow. “Wilcox just out-rebounded us and out-hustled us.”

Nick McHenry was the leading scorer with 15 points, while Mikwese Claybourne scored 13 and Jarques Burnett had 12.

The Tigers’ struggles continued on Saturday with a 76-66 loss to Shields.

Burnett was the leading scorer in that one with 25 points and McHenry scored 12.

Marlow said one thing the team has been facing is a hostile environment on the road, and he’d like to see something similar at Greenville.

“The environments were intense,” he said. “We need to create the same advantage here. We have a great turnout, we just need more involvement.”

The Tigers face off against Sidney Lanier on Thursday, and then come home for senior night against Monroe County Friday night.