MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — The Baldwin Bravettes upped their record to 3-0 on the young basketball season by staving off a fourth quarter comeback attempt to get a 51-46 victory over the visiting Lady Golden Hawks of Washington County Saturday night.

The lead went back and forth between the two contenders early on as Washington applied full court pressure to try and gain an advantage. Chief Baldwin ball handlers Courtney Butts and Akirah Robinson had no problem handling it though to help give the home team a 13-10 advantage through one quarter. Both teams were already in the bonus before the first quarter was even over, which would play a part later on in the game.

Butts continued her strong play in the second quarter with a basket plus the foul followed by a steal and excellent lead pass down the court to sophomore Crystal Corley who finished to give the Bravettes a three-point advantage. A five-point run in the last two minutes of the half with an exclamation point by Arecia Williams on an offensive putback had the home team up 26-20 at the break.

Baldwin got its lead as high as 10 points in the third, but an 11-point quarter by both teams canceled out the period as the Bravettes held over their six-point lead from the half.

BHS leading scorers Butts and Robinson found themselves in foul trouble in the second half, so head coach Randall Owens held them out to begin the final quarter. After being down most of the second half, the Lady Hawks found an opening and fought their way back into the ballgame by taking the lead halfway through the final period. The Bravettes were led by Robinson, Butts, and JuLia Nelson for the last three minutes of the game as a three from Akirah and offensive putbacks by Nelson and Butts helped the Baldwin get its third-consecutive win.

“We were able to make some adjustments on the defensive end to neutralize Washington County’s offense,” Owens said. “It was a great defensive effort given to us by Brittany Trawick and Jasmine Chester. JuLia Nelson and MiKayla [Waller] provided us with tough interior defense and rebounding.”

The Lady Hawks had few opportunities to make it close again late but turnovers kept that from occurring.

“Washington County won a majority of the games in the series the past few years, so it was a great win for our basketball team,” Owens added. “It was a very positive showing for us to be able to show our great depth to wear down Washington County. Although Akirah Robinson and Courtney Butts had foul trouble, they did a great job of leading us offensively with much needed scoring.”

Robinson led the way in scoring for the Bravettes with 14 points on the night while Butts added 11 in the win. Nelson provided the toughness for the team on the inside by grabbing a team-high 12 rebounds.

The Baldwin girls are at home tonight once again to take on the Warner Robins Lady Demons at 6 p.m. The school is promoting “Throwback Tuesday” ticket pricing as admission to tonight’s game has been lowered to $5.