MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County seventh-grade basketball teams will have a little momentum on their sides when they begin play in the South Georgia Athletic Conference tournament that opens this week.

The seventh-grade Lady Packers defeated Newbern 30-12 on Tuesday for their third win in a row as they await the bracket to see who they will play in their tournament-opener.

Colquitt’s girls are 8-4 and have defeated Lowndes, Coffee and Newbern since suffering a 39-8 loss to Tift County on Jan. 9.

The seventh-grade Packers avenged one of their three losses this season by knocking off the Panthers 26-20 in Tuesday’s second game.

Colquitt’s boys, 9-3, finish third in the conference behind Tift County and Newbern and will play at 5 p.m. Friday.

The seventh-grade tournament for boys and girls will begin Thursday at the Eighth Street Middle School gymnasium.

The boys and girls championship games are scheduled for Saturday.

For the second time this season, Colquitt’s girls had little trouble with Newbern. The Lady Packers won in Valdosta last month 35-14.

Colquitt led 6-2 at the end of the first quarter and held the Lady Panthers scoreless over the next six minutes to take a 15-2 lead into halftime.

The Lady Packers were led by Bria Wallace, who had 12 points and five rebounds.

Brittany Taylor and Miranda Trim each had eight points. Keneisha Seay two.

The boys game was low-scoring in the first half, which ended with Newbern leading 8-6.

The Packers did not help themselves by hitting just 3-of-13 free throws in the first two quarters.

But the Colquitt County boys outscored their visitors 20-12 in the second half and also will take a three-game winning streak into the tournament.

The Packers led by six with 36 seconds left in the third quarter, but Newbern rallied and took a 17-16 lead on a pair of free throws by Reginald McQueen with 4:41 left in the fourth quarter.

The game was tied at 17-17 and 20-20 before Cole Pitts hit a pair of free throws with 2:41 left and added a basket off an inbounds pass with 30 seconds left to put the game out of reach.

A Cornelius James breakaway layup with six seconds left gave Colquitt County its six-point winning margin.

Pitts led the seventh-grade boys with nine points. James and Walter Johnson each had four, Trey DeBruce and Tevin King had three and Gary Thomas had a basket.

Quadry Hall led Newbern with eight points. McQueen had seven and Earl Godson had five.

Following the game, two Newbern coaches followed the game officials to their office, complaining about the way the game was called.

And an altercation between players on both teams narrowly avoided as they made to their dressing rooms following the game.