By Kevin Price For CGS Athletics The Brunswick High girls basketball team finished off a perfect run through Region 2-AAAAAA as the Lady Pirates knocked off South Effingham 57-31 Friday night in the finals of the league tournament. BHS (24-3) ranked fifth in the state, won the regular-season region title by going 12-0 in league games with two wins against every team in the region during league play. As the top seed for the region tournament, BHS won two games in the tournament, blowing past rival Glynn Academy in the semifinals at Brunswick Square Garden on Wednesday before toppling the Lady Mustangs back inside the Garden on Friday night. South Effingham, which entered Friday’s game with a 20-6 record, was the No. 2 seed for the tournament. The Lady Mustangs got by Grovetown in Wednesday’s other semifinals to get a third shot this season at Brunswick which dominated the region. The league crown was the second in a row for the Lady Pirates under head coach Maria Mangram has now led BHS to region titles in five of the last nine seasons. BHS has finished first or second in the region in all but two years going back to 2014. Brunswick won three straight region titles in 2015-17 and now back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023. BHS was the league runner-up in 2014, 2020 and 2021. “It’s always hard to win a championship,” Mangram said. “You’re always gonna have ups and downs throughout a season, but this group of girls has worked hard. We had a lot of naysayers, but I told the girls just to let their ball-playing speak for itself.” On Friday, BHS jumped out to a 16-6 lead after the first quarter, but saw South Effingham pull within 23-18 at halftime. The Lady Pirates clamped down on South Effingham with a full-court press defensively after halftime while pushing the pace on offense. BHS opened up a 20-point cushion in the third frame before taking a 40-27 advantage in the fourth quarter. Brunswick buried back-to-back three-pointers early in the final stanza for a 46-28 lead and would extend its advantage and go on to claim the 26-point win. “We came out ready to play in the second half. I got on the players about us losing the second quarter. We were just letting people score,” Mangram said. Senior forward Shamya Flanders led all scorers with 18 points for Brunswick while also finishing with 7 rebounds. Coco Ramsey added 16 points for the Lady Pirates while senior center Shane’ Jackson finished with 9 points and 6 boards. The BHS girls will play a first-round game at home in the Class AAAAAA state tournament next Tuesday or Wednesday. They hope to schedule a doubleheader in the opening round along with the Brunswick boys who are facing Grovetown Saturday night in the boys region championship game in Augusta. If the Pirates can score a win tonight in the battle between the state-ranked teams, they also would be the region’s No. 1 seed. Even with a loss, the Pirates would still be the No. 2 seed which assures them of a home game in the first round of state. Grovetown, the defending Class AAAAAA state champion, has beaten the Pirates twice this season including 70-67 in overtime in the Square Garden in early February. Also on Friday night, Glynn lost 37-29 to Grovetown in the girls third-place game which was played prior to the championship contest. The Lady Terrors will now be the No. 4 seed for the state tournament and will play on the road in the first round. The Lady Warriors will be the No. 3 seed for state and also will be away from home in the opening round. Grovetown was the No. 3 seed coming into the league tourney. Glynn came into the region tournament as the No. 5 seed. GA edged Lakeside-Evans, the No. 3 seed, on Monday at Lakeside, by a 49-47 final tally to get into the league semifinals and qualify for state. The Lady Terrors (8-19) lost to Brunswick 63-23 in Wednesday’s semifinals at BHS.