MOULTRIE —
— The Colquitt County seventh- grade basketball teams swept Coffee at the Willie J. Williams Middle School gymnasium on Thursday, with the boys winning 43-36 on the strength of a 21-1 game-ending run.
The seventh-grade girls won the first game 42-17.
The Colquitt County eighth-grade teams also played in Moultrie on Thursday, splitting with Valdosta at the Charlie A. Gray Junior High gymnasium.
The eighth-grade boys won on a comeback of their own on Thursday, winning 33-21 after trailing 10-2 at the end of the first quarter.
The eighth-grade girls fell 21-15.
The seventh-grade boys game was a defensive struggle for the first half, and Colquitt County trailed 13-11 going into the locker room.
The Packers took a lead midway through the third period before J. J. Peterson picked up his fourth foul.
Without Peterson patrolling the middle on defense, Coffee attacked the basket, and opened up a 35-22 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Peterson re-entered at the 4:40 mark, and helped the Packers chip away at the deficit.
He scored 11 of his game-high 25 points in the period.
Also in the quarter, Jarvis Christopher made a 3-pointer, JaQuan Willis scored three points, and Cameron Singletary hit four clutch free throws as the Packers caught and passed the Trojans.
The Packers were on a 21-0 run and led 43-35 before Coffee hit a free throw with 10 seconds on the clock.
“I was pleased with our effort,” coach Josh Purvis said.
“Even when we were down 13 in the fourth quarter, we didn’t give up.
That was a good basketball team we were playing against. We could have laid down, but we didn’t.”
The Lady Packers jumped out to a 12-1 first quarter lead and never looked back.
Za’Nautica Downs scored six in the opening period, and finished with a team-high 14 points. It was her defense, though, that set the tone of the game.
“I was pleased with the way we opened the game defensively,” coach Jon Scroggins said.
“We worked hard to make things difficult on Coffee. They had some big girls, and we did a pretty good job of keeping the ball out of their hands, and then rebounding and making sure they only got one shot at a time.”
Downs and Abiyah Spencer were the beneficiaries of those rebounds, as the Lady Packers turned defense into offense and converted layups and free throws at the other end.
The second quarter slowed down a bit, and Michaela Bennefield went to work inside, scored six of her 13 points in the period.
Spencer finished with six, Kiarra Lovett had five and Akia Sutton added four.
The seventh-grade teams play the third game of their home stand at 4:30 on Tuesday, when Valdosta Middle School visits.
At Charlie A. Gray Junior High School, eighth-grade boys coach Roger Jones said he talked to DaNas Andrews at halftime and told his post player that he was best player on the floor and should go out in the second half and prove it.
And Andrews did just that, scoring the first eight points of the third quarter to extend a 13-12 lead to 21-12 and the Packers were off and running.
The eighth-grade boys took an 0-3 record into the game and after the first quarter, a fourth-straight loss did not seem out of the question.
Trailing 10-3 after the first six minutes, Colquitt turned the tables, outscoring the Wildcats 10-2 in the second quarter to lead by one at the half.
Of the Packers 10 second-quarter points, eight came on free throws. Andrews had the only basket of the quarter.
Colquitt played solid defense and hit the boards in the final three quarters, during which they outscored Valdosta 30-11.
“That felt good,” eighth-grade boys coach Roger Jones said. “We righted the ship and I think the guys got some confidence.
“I’m proud of them.”
Andrews led the Packers with 14 points. Donkerious DeBruce added eight; Tyrese King had four; Tory Ponder had three; and Allen Key and Demiven Knighton each had two points.
The Packers will be off until Dec. 11 when they travel to Newbern.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do before then,” Jones said.
The eighth-grade girls did not score a point until 17 seconds into the second quarter and never could catch up.
The Lady Packers trailed 16-4 at the half and were down 20-7 heading into the final quarter.
Istajhe Johnson scored six of her team-high 10 points in the final quarter.
Despite outscoring the Lady Wildcats 8-1 in the final six minutes, Colquitt came up short.
“We missed a lot of layups,” Lady Packers coach Tiffanie Young said. “We’re getting better and better, but we’ve got a long way to go.”
The eighth-grade girls, who opened with a 15-14 victory at Lowndes on Tuesday, are now 1-1.
Shy Seay and Ashunte Stewart each scored two points for Colquitt County and Shanlexis Walker added a free throw.
Jon Scroggins contributed to this report.
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Related Photos
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Tory Ponder brings the ball upcourt during the eighth-grade Packers victory over Valdosta on Thursday. Connie Southwell
Discussion
7th-, 8th-grade boys get comeback victories
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