MOULTRIE —  After trailing by one at the half, the Colquitt County eighth-grade boys basketball team scored the first 17 points of the third quarter and rolled to a 50-35 victory over Valdosta on Wednesday at the Charlie A. Gray Junior High gymnasium.

The victory sends the eighth-grade Packers to a semifinal game against Coffee in Douglas today.

The winner will play in the South Georgia Athletic Conference championship game on Saturday, also in Douglas.

The Colquitt County seventh-grade boys and girls teams also won on Wednesday and will be at the Willie J. Williams Middle School gymnasium today for their semifinal games.

They, too, are seeking berths in Saturday championship games in Douglas.

The Colquitt County eighth-grade girls basketball team was defeated 28-20 by Lowndes Middle School on the road on Tuesday and was eliminated from the SGAC tournament.

The Colquitt County girls finish the season 4-11.

Lowndes will advance to a semifinal game today.

The game was tied 18-18 heading into the final quarter, but the Lady Packers were outscored 10-2 the rest of the way.

“We have improved as a team and individually,” coach Tiffanie Young said. "With the improvements and some work this summer, the girls will be ready for next year. This is a great group of girls."

Ta'Kerria Waters and Ariel Pollard each had nine points. Arleacia Parker had two points.

The No. 3-seeded eighth-grade Packers led 14-7 after the first quarter, but Valdosta, behind the shooting of Justin Williams, outscored their hosts 17-9 in the second quarter and led 24-23 at the break.

But Kiel Pollard scored two baskets in the first 27 seconds of the third quarter and Gabe Holston added two more over the next 70 seconds and the Packers were up by seven.

The Colquitt County lead went to 40-24 before the No. 6 Wildcats were able to get on the scoreboard for the first time with 1:01 left in the quarter.

Asked what he did to light a fire under his team, Colquitt County coach Roger Jones just smiled and said he told his team to emphsize rebounding and to play smarter.

“I told them, (Valdosta) wouldn’t quit,” Jones said. “They are a good ball club.

“We did a good job of listening today.”

The Packers also were able to shut down Williams, who had 13 of his game-high 20 points in the second quarter.

He had jut one basket in the second half.

Pollard led the Packers with 12 points and 15 rebounds.

Landon Scott added 11 points; Holston had eight; Quan Mathis had seven; Jaquan Blakely had six; Chris Bouie had four and Nathan Lang had two points.

The Colquitt County seventh-grade girls basketball team defeated Hahira Middle School 35-11 on Wednesday in the teams’ first meeting of the season.

The seventh-grade boys followed that up by completing a three-game season sweep of Pine Grove Middle School, 31-15.

The Lady Packers started fast, jumping out to a 10-4 first-quarter lead. Istajhe Johnson led the way early with four quick points, and added a first-quarter assist on an Ashuntee Stewart basket. Shy Seay also recorded an assist on a Kiarra Lovett score.

“I told the 7th-graders before the game, this could be the last game they ever play in this (Willie J. Williams Middle School) gym,” coach Jon Scroggins said.  “I told them if they weren’t ready for the season to be over, they had to take care of business — and they did.”

The youngest Lady Packers took an 18-8 lead into halftime, and outscored Hahira 13-0 in the third quarter.  

“We had a couple of defensive lapses in the first half that I wasn’t pleased with,” Scroggins said. “We corrected it in the third quarter.  We’ll enjoy this tonight, but Valdosta comes to town tomorrow, so we’ve got to be ready.”

Za’Nautica Downs led all scorers with 10 points.  Abiyah Spencer scored six, Kiarra Lovett added five, and Johnson and Stewart each finished with four.  Sydnee Dalton, Emily Downs, and Michaela Bennefield contributed two points each.

Scroggins also noted outstanding defensive efforts by Akia Sutton and Ty-Asia McNeal, and excellent rebounding by Shay Stanfill.

The Lady Packers play Valdosta Middle School at 4:30 today in a second-round matchup.

In the second game, DaNas Andrews scored nine points and led nine scorers for the Packers.  

“DaNas played a great game,” coach Josh Purvis said. “He led us, but this was another team win.  We were able to spread the ball around; to have nine players score in a playoff game is outstanding.”

Pine Grove hung tough, trailing only 8-6 with a just over a minute remaining in the first quarter; but the Packer defense held the Vikings scoreless for over eight minutes, through the entire second quarter, and held an 18-6 advantage early in the third.

J.J. Peterson overcame early foul trouble and scored four points.  Tyrese King and Cameron Singletary also had four each.  Tory Ponder, Dankerius DeBruce, Deaundre Atmore, Conner Patterson, and Gavin Phillips contributed two points each.

“We’ve got to be ready to turn around and play again,” Purvis said. “We face a very tough Tifton team next.”

The seventh-grade boys play Tifton in a second-round matchup immediately following today’s girls game, which starts at 4:30 p.m.  

Jon Scroggins contributed to this report