MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County girls basketball team will make its second straight trip to the Sweet 16 next week after knocking off the No. 3 team in the state on Saturday in the Class AAAAA state basketball tournament.

The Lady Packers defeated a depleted Morrow High 59-50 on the road and will advance to the second round to meet Lovejoy at 4 p.m. Friday at the Macon Centreplex.

Lovejoy, the Region 4-AAAAA tournament champion, advanced with a 61-59 victory over Glynn Academy on Saturday. Lovejoy will take a 15-13 record into the game.

Colquitt will go into the game having won seven of its last nine games.

Morrow, playing its fourth straight game without Auburn signee Jordan Greenleaf and second straight without point guard Angie Smith, went the first 8:59 without a field goal and were down 9-1 at the end of the first quarter.

The Lady Packers went up 30-18 at the half and survived a Lady Mustangs run in the third quarter to win their 20th game of the season.

“We played well,” said Lady Packers coach Joe Parker. “They came out flat and we didn’t.”

Morrow went on fourth-quarter run to cut the Lady Packers lead to 47-45, but Colquitt refused to give in.

The Lady Mustangs finish 24-4 after having to play without their top two players down the stretch.

Greenleaf was suspended following the regular-season finale for disciplinary reasons. Smith was inadvertently elbowed in the face by a teammate in the Region 2-AAAAAA tournament and was unable to play on Saturday.

Sophomore post player Taquella Coates, who scored only 15 points in the three Region 1-AAAAA tournament games, led the Lady Packers with 19 points on Saturday, including 10 in the first half.

Ashley Stafford and freshman Nicolle Thomas each had 10 points. Thomas had a big 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.

Dorothy Strong added eight points, Jessica Lemus had seven, Tiffany Troupe had four and Nikki Hudson had a free throw.

Parker said Stafford, the Lady Packers All-Region performer, had a big first quarter and set the tone for the game.

Stafford also had five rebounds, as did Strong.

Troupe played well off the bench and had five rebounds while filling in for Coates, who was in foul trouble a good part of the game.

The Lady Packers were 15-for-26 from the free throw line, with Strong hitting all six of her foul shots and Coates going 5-for-9.

Colquitt out-rebounded the Lady Mustangs 38-30. Coates and Lemus each had nine rebounds. Stafford had seven assists.

The Lady Packers came out cold in the second half and were outscored 10-7 in the third quarter.

But Colquitt maintained its nine-point advantage when both teams scored 22 points in the fourth quarter.

Morrow clearly missed Greenleaf, who scored 43 points in the final regular-season game.

The Lady Mustangs were reluctant to try to get the ball into the post and relied much of the night on 20-footers.

“It was hard to figure how to defend them,” Parker said. “When they’d try to penetrate, they’d throw it right back out.

“We didn’t just shut them down, but we did a nice job.”

Shaquanna Bleach led Morrow with 16 points. Jasmine Parker had 12 and was 7-for-8 from the line.

Parker said the Colquitt County boys basketball team, which lost its first-round state tournament game to Redan on Friday in Stone Mountain, was on hand to lend its support to the Lady Packers.

“That was nice,” Parker said.

Of the four Region 1-AAAAA girls teams that made it to the state tournament, only Colquitt County and Houston County survived first-round games.

The Lady Bears defeated Douglass 61-55 and wil meet Bradwell Institute at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Macon Centreplex in a second-round game.

Bradwell advanced with a 48-44 victory over Union Grove.

Lowndes was eliminated at the Charles Cooper Gymnasium by Redan 62-27.

And Tift County fell to Stephenson 52-42.

If the Lady Packers can get by Lovejoy to reach the Elite Eight, they would meet the Redan-Beach winner at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Macon Centreplex.