MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County boys basketball team continued to make the end of 2008 better than the beginning, defeating St. Francis High of Alpharetta 63-57 in overtime on Monday in their opening game of the Colquitt County Roundball Classic at the Gladys Espy Gymnasium.

Both Colquitt County teams were forced into overtime, but the Lady Packers, who squandered a seven-point lead in the final 1:02 of overtime, failed to score in the extra period and fell to Dougherty 59-56.

In the other first-round girls games on Monday, Albany defeated Lee County 46-40, Stockbridge won over Monroe 43-28 and Westover defeated Savannah 44-34.

In the other boys games, Miller County routed Lee County 79-46, Mt. Zion-Jonesboro won over Baker County 60-34 and Monroe won over Stockbridge 65-56.

The Colquitt County boys had a chance to win in regulation when Eric Key’s second basket in eight seconds put the Packers up 53-52 with 10.8 seconds left.

But St. Francis’ Devonte Davis was fouled at the other end with 6.9 seconds remaining and hit the first of his two free throws and the game went into overtime.

St. Francis, which plays in Region 7-A, scored first in the overtime on a free throw by Brian Wood, the last of his 20 points.

Jalen Simmons added another free throw with 3 minutes left in overtime to put the Knights up by two at 55-53.

After Simmons missed a free throw 20 seconds later, Nate Hill rebounded and scored at the other end to tie the game.

St. Francis turned the ball over on its next two possessions and the Packers turned them into baskets by Dominique Hadley and Brian Berl to lead 59-55 with 1:30 left.

Sam Kim came up with a loose ball and put it in the basket with 54 seconds left to pull St. Francis back to with two points.

But Hill scored twice in the final 18 seconds, including a jam at the buzzer, to give the Packers the six-point lead.

The victory was the third in a row for Colquitt County, which had lost 19 in a row before beating Worth County and Statesboro in the U-Save-It Christmas Classic in Albany last week.

“Our character is getting better game by game,” Packers coach Kirven Davis said. “When things didn’t go our way, the kids didn’t quit.

“We got a lot of fan support and we tried to build off the emotion of the girls game.”

Colquitt, now 3-5, was led by Hill, who had 20 points, including six in the overtime and four in the fourth quarter.

The game was the fifth this season in which Hill has scored 20 or more points.

Hadley had 11, Luis Ballenilla had seven; Berl, Cameron Erving and Amel Magwood each had six; Key had five and Cole Pitts had two.

Key again performed well defensively and came up with perhaps the biggest plays of the night in the closing seconds of regulation.

With the Packers trailing 52-49, Key got a steal near midcourt and sank a layup while being fouled to pull Colquitt to within one with 18 seconds remaining.

He missed the free throw, but almost immediately came up with a loose ball and scored on a short jumper to give the Packers a brief lead.

“Eric Key ... what can you say,” Davis said. “He has the heart of lion.”

Colquitt led by one at the half, but St. Francis had a big third quarter to and took a five-point lead into the final period.

The Knights led by seven at 52-45 with under three minutes left before the Packers made their late run.

Davis had 15 points for St. Francis, which play will at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The Knights fall to 6-4.

The Packers face Stockbridge at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and will close out the tournament against Mt. Zion-Jonesboro at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Dougherty senior Tiffany Anderson proved why she is one of the top players in South Georgia this year, scoring 32 points, including the final seven in regulation and the first two in overtime to lead the Lady Trojans victory.

Anderson, who had five double-doubles in Dougherty’s first seven games this season, had 20 points to help send the Lady Trojans 38-28 halftime lead.

But foul trouble and outstanding defense by Colquitt County Ashley Patillo limited Anderson’s effectiveness for much of the second half.

But she went to work after Nicolle Thomas hit a free throw to put the Lady Packers up 56-49 with 2:21 left in regulation.

Colquitt did not score again in the final 2:21 nor in the four-minute overtime.

But Anderson scored a basket with 1:02 left to pull Dougherty to within five and hit another with 37 seconds left to cut Colquitt’s lead to 56-53.

Her final basket came with 1.6 seconds left on a layup on which she was fouled.

She made the free throw to tie the game and hit two more free throws just 13 seconds into the overtime.

Colquitt County had at least three opportunities to put the game away in the closing moments of regulation, but missed four free throws in the final 1:52.

The Lady Packers missed the front end of two one-and-ones in the final 22 seconds.

The loss overshadowed a final offensive performance by Umeika Henry, who had 22 points.

Patillo had 12, Thomas had nine, Persephone Taylor seven, Shay Lovett had four and Bria Wallace had two.

In addition to Anderson’s 32, Dougherty also got 12 points from Gabrielle Bullock.

The Lady Packers sent Dougherty to the line 26 times. The Lady Trojans converted 19.

Dougherty, now 7-1, will meet Camden County at 4 p.m. Tuesday and will close out the tournament will a game against Lee County at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The Lady Packers, now 5-3, will play Stockbridge at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Camden County at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.