MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County boys basketball team overcame a lethargic second quarter that resulted in a halftime deficit and went on to defeat Worth County 77-66 on Saturday at the Gladys Espy Gymnasium.

The Packers, who raise their record to 3-2, were rebounding from a 64-56 loss to Dougherty High on Friday in Albany.

The Region 1-AAA Rams also fell to Colquitt County 62-50 on Friday, Dec. 3, and were routed by Tift County 72-45 on Friday. Tift County is ranked No. 4 in Class AAAAA.

In Saturday’s first game, the Lady Packers fell to 5-3 after losing for the second time in a week to the Lady Rams, this time by a 58-49 score.

The game was the third between the Colquitt County girls and Worth County girls already this season.

The Lady Packers was the season-opener 70-34 back on Nov. 17, but the Lady Rams won 50-47 when the two teams met on Dec. 3 in Sylvester.

Saturday’s victory was the fourth in a row for the Lady Rams, who raised their record to 6-4. On Friday, they defeated Tift County, the No. 9 team in Class AAAAA, for a 46-45 score.

Colquitt County’s boys led 18-12 after the first quarter, but the Region 1-AAA Rams, under former Packers assistant coach Andy Harden, rallied to take a 34-33 halftime lead.

But by the time Harden called a timeout with 2:58 left in the third quarter, the Packers lead had swelled to 10.

Worth cut its deficit to seven by the end of the third quarter, but after leading scorer James Procter fouled out just 42 seconds into the fourth quarter, it was apparent the Rams would not have enough to hold off the Packers.

Procter scored 21 points, including 11 in the third quarter help keep his team in the game.

The Packers had four players in double-figures, led by Antwan Tuff, who had a season-high 20 points. Andrew Wallace, who sat out much of the first half in foul trouble, still managed to score 14.

James Trimble added 12 and Channing Hudson had 10.

Jeremy DeBruce had nine, Orion Ponder chipped in six and Kamari Peterson, Dannie Hunt and Ronald Wilson each had two points.

The Packers will not play Thomas County Central on Friday as was originally scheduled, but instead will meet Lee County at 7 p.m. at Albany High in the opening round of the WALB Holiday Classic.

The tournament will continue Saturday and the following Monday and Tuesday.

The Lady Packers will be off until Dec. 20 when they travel to Westside-Macon to play Spalding High in the holiday tournament there.

Lady Packers coach Joe Parker got nearly everything he could have wanted from his team on Saturday, getting 70 shots and 10-for-12 free throw shooting.

But the Lady Packers hit just 19 of those 70 shots and never led after Worth took a 9-7 first-quarter lead.

“We had good looks, we had the people shooting we wanted to shoot where we wanted them to shoot it,” Lady Packers coach Joe Parker said.

“We just didn’t make our shots and they did.”

Worth County got 22 points from center Tia Lewis and 21 from guard Shonterria Walker.

In the two previous games against the Lady Packers, Walker had no points and eight points.

Lewis has played well in all three games against the Lady Packers, scoring 60 points in the three games.

Ashley Stafford led Colquitt County with 16 points and Nicole Thomas added 10.

Taquella Coates had eight, Jessica Lemus had five, Nikki Hudson had four and Laquita Smith and Dorothy Strong each contributed a basket.

The Colquitt JV boys won 66-49 and are now 1-3. The JV girls won 45-42 to raise their record to 4-0.