MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County girls basketball team can get off to a 3-0 Region 1-AAAAA start tonight when Coffee High visits the Gladys Espy Memorial Gymnasium for a pair of key matchups.

The Lady Packers knocked off Houston County on Friday and Valdosta on Saturday in their region openers and would like nothing better than to have a perfect region record when state-ranked Tift County rolls into Moultrie on Friday.

The Colquitt County boys are coming off a 58-45 victory over Valdosta on Saturday that evened their region record at 1-1.

Coffee’s boys, who are not big, but are quick, also are 1-1.

The Trojans won their region opener last Tuesday, using an 11-1 run in the closing minutes to defeat Valdosta 56-52.

But Coffee fell to Lowndes on Friday, 65-60.

The Vikings, tied for No. 10 in Class AAAAA, are 2-0 in the region.

Coffee’s boys are 11-6 overall and count on the scoring of 6-foot-2 junior Demetrius Williams, who had 14 points in the victory over Valdosta.

Colquitt County’s boys rebounded nicely from a 59-49 loss to Houston County on Friday to deal Valdosta a loss that dropped the Wildcats to 0-3 in the region.

The Packers are 8-4 overall and can get a week that includes three home games off to the right start against the Trojans.

Colquitt plugged away against the Wildcats, finally breaking the game open late in the fourth quarter.

Senior center James Trimble led the Packers with 13 points and is averaging 11.7 points a game.

He will be joined on the front line by junior Andrew Wallace, who has scored eight points in each of the last three games and is scoring 9.2 points a contest.

Senior Jeremy DeBruce and Antwan Tuff will join junior point guard Orion Ponder in the backcourt.

DeBruce scored six straight fourth-quarter points on Saturday to help derail Valdosta and is averaging 10.3 points a game.

Tuff continues to lead the Packers in scoring with a 12.5 points per game average, but had just five against Houston County on Friday and six against Valdosta.

The Packers would like to build some momentum for Friday’s home game against Tift County.

The Blue Devils, who meet Lowndes tonight, are 11-4 overall and are ranked No. 7 in Class AAAAA.

Colquitt County’s girls have not lost in 2006, beating Thomas County Central, Houston County and Valdosta last week to raise their overall record to 10-4.

They will face a Lady Trojans team that won its region opener by defeating Valdosta 48-35 behind Brianna McClellan’s 22-point, 11-rebound effort. Shan Green added 12 points.

But Coffee’s girls struggled against Lowndes on Friday, losing 45-36 to fall to 11-6 overall and 1-1 in the region.

Colquitt County’s girls have won five of their last six since losing to Worth County 58-49 back on Dec. 10.

And the one blemish in that streak was a two-point loss to Westside-Macon in the Lady Seminoles-sponsored Great Southern Shootout in Macon.

The Lady Packers had little trouble with Valdosta on Saturday after battling Houston County to win by three the night before.

Taquella Coates has helped spur the Lady Packers offense over the last six games, during which she has averaged 13.5 points a game.

The 6-foot sophomore post player had back-to-back 18-point games against Dougherty and Vidalia in the Macon tournament and had 19 on Saturday against Valdosta.

Coates is joined in the starting front court by senior Jessica Lemus.

Dorothy Strong starts on the point with Ashley Stafford and Nikki Hudson playing the wings.

Stafford is having an All-Region-calibre season and is averaging 10.6 points a game.

The Lady Packers also continue to get excellent play off the bench, especially from Tiffany Troupe, Nicole Thomas and Laquita Smith.

Thomas, just a freshman, is averaging seven points a game.