MOULTRIE — Colquitt County girls basketball coach Joe Parker and his Lady Packers have to be a bit frustrated after a disheartening 47-45 loss to Lowndes High on Tuesday at the Charles Cooper Gymnasium.

Parker says his team played hard, got in positions to make shots and played good defense, but still could not get away with Region 1-AAAAA victory.

The loss, coupled with a 47-27 home loss to Tift County last Friday, leaves the Lady Packers a 3-2 in the region, behind the Vikettes, who are 4-1, and Houston County, which is 3-1.

Colquitt tied the game at 45-45 when Ashley Stafford scored on an inbounds pass.

But with just seconds remaining, the Vikettes’ Markeisha Close hit a pair of free throws, and Colquitt was unable to get another shot off before the final buzzer.

The Lady Packers must shake off the loss and get prepared for the trip to Valdosta for a region game at 7 tonight.

The Lady Packers will go to Tift County next Tuesday with a chance to avenge the puzzling 20-point loss to the Lady Devils, but must not look past the Valdosta girls.

Although the Lady Wildcats are 0-5 in the region and the Lady Packers defeated them 56-33 in Moultrie two weeks ago, Colquitt County’s girls believe they must win out if they are going to get the No. 1 seed for the region tournament, which will begin Feb. 7, at Tift County.

“I don’t want to go over there and slop around,” Parker said.

The Lady Packers were never in the game against Tift County, falling behind early and never making a run.

“We didn’t execute,” Parker said. “We let what they were doing change what we were doing.”

The result was the Colquitt County girls’ lowest point total of the season.

The Lady Packers played somewhat better in a lopsided 64-31 non-region win over Thomasville on Saturday, then did everything right but get their shots to fall against Lowndes, allowing the Vikettes to pull off their 11th straight victory and go to 17-2 on the season.

Parker said his team got the looks it wanted, but could not get its shots to fall.

And, again, the Lady Packers struggled from the free throw line, hitting just 4-of-11.

“We’ve got to make our shots,” Parker said. “We need to get the ball into (Taquella) Coates. Our big girls are not getting enough touches.”

Coates, the 6-foot sophomore post player, had 10 points against Lowndes. But Parker still wants her more involved in the offense. Many of Coates points this season have come on put-backs.

“We want her to get away from cleaning up to becoming someone we can go to,” Parker said.

Coates leads the team in scoring, averaging 10.1 points a game. But over the last 10 games, she is averaging 14.5 points.

In the Lady Packers first game against Valdosta this season, Coates had a then-career high 19 points.

She will start again in the front court with senior Jessica Lemus, who had two points against Tift County and five against Lowndes. She is averaging 7.6 points a game.

Senior Ashley Stafford did all she could do against Lowndes, scoring 10 points and clearly impressing Vikettes coach Shan Garner.

“We tried to get the ball out of Stafford’s hands,” Garner told The Valdosta Daily Times following the game. “She’s the real deal. We had them scouted and knew what they were going to do, and the girl still executed. She just does a great job.”

Stafford joined Coates in leading the victory over Valdosta at the Espy Gymnasium back on Jan. 7 when she scored 12 points.

In the backcourt with Stafford will be Nikki Hudson and Dorothy Strong. Hudson had 11 points to lead the Lady Packers in scoring against the Vikettes.

With the second round of region games beginning tonight, the Lady Packers may feel a sense of urgency.

“Like Ashley said, we need to win out,” Parker said. “But if we can play like we did against Lowndes, we can beat anybody.”