THOMASVILLE – It was a double-double night for Diamond Hall and another 20-plus point performance for Za’Nautica Downs Tuesday as the Class 7A No. 9 Colquitt County High girls basketball team cruised to a 6-0 start by defeating Thomas County-Central 62-37.

Though her Lady Packers never trailed – and even held the home Lady Yellow Jackets to one second-quarter point – coach Rondesha Williams expressed some concerns after the contest. She said it was a sloppy start in spurts, and they still need to work on boxing out.

“That will hurt us in the long run,” said Williams. “We’ll take the win, and now we have to get ready for Worth County on Saturday.

Downs scored 21 points for Colquitt and pulled down seven rebounds. Hall put in 20 points, grabbed 15 rebounds for the double-double, and contributed six steals.

Tionna Hunt scored eight points, Abiyah Spencer had six and Kiarra Lovett scored five to go with four rebounds. Point guard Akia Sutton stole the basketball five times.

Overall, the Lady Packers held Thomas County-Central to seven first-half points, leading 30-7 at the break. The Lady Yellow Jackets actually matched their first-half total in the third quarter, but it was still Colquitt in control 47-20.

Boys victory

Packer boys varsity coach Andy Harden made the trip to Thomas-County Central Tuesday, and he’s glad he did. After missing Saturday’s win at Dougherty, Harden saw Colquitt County improve to 4-0 topping the Yellow Jackets 64-40.

Much like Williams from the girls game, Harden said his team could have played better. Even so, the Packers led throughout, starting with a 19-8 first quarter and 29-14 halftime advantage.

“We controlled the whole time,” said Harden. “But we really did not play well. We had some mental mistakes, but a win’s a win. It’s hard to play at Thomas County-Central. We’ve never played well there, so it was good to get a win.”

Harden went on to say there’s something about the Jacket gym that makes outside shooting difficult. Only Cam Singletary made a 3-point basket for the Packers, but the point guard had 12 points. Quentin Dopson led the way with 15 points and DaNas Andrews had 12.

Tyrese King scored nine, but Harden only played him in the first half due to injury. Montavious Ponder had seven.

The Packer boys and girls will look to continue this run of hardwood success not seen in a long time Saturday, but it will be yet another road trip to Worth County. There was only one home date so far, opening night vs. Crisp County on Nov. 15. That changes on Dec. 13 when Bainbridge visits.

The next home action for Colquitt basketball is the annual Vereen Rehabilitation Shoot-Out Dec. 27-29. This is a classic format with Colquitt County’s girls facing Morrow, Valdosta and Monroe-Albany, and the boys have two games vs. Lafayette, Ala.; and Monroe. Other teams in the field include Lowndes, Brunswick and Gainesville.