MOULTRIE – For the celebration that was already planned to follow, it had to be a win.

Colquitt County High’s girls basketball team went from a ‘goose egg’ in the first quarter to seeing Diamond Hall knock down two foul shots with 0.1 seconds on the clock. The Lady Packers and coach Rondesha Williams edged out Bainbridge High 29-28, and afterwards celebrated the 1,000 career points scored by junior Za’Nautica Downs.

“Bainbridge is a tough team,” said Williams, remembering that the first meeting between the two on the road was decided in the final seconds. “I’m praying on the sidelines the whole time that we got to pull this out. Za’Nautica scored 1,000 points back on Nov. 29 (in Tallahassee) three games into the season. It was a long time coming because we’ve been on the road. My coaching staff did a great job putting this together.

“It was an ugly win, but we are going to take it.”

With a No. 8 Class 7A ranking, the Lady Packers improved to 8-0. Downs finished with 14 points and Hall had eight. Bainbridge forward Nadia Marshall scored 21 points, including a put-back with seven seconds left giving Bainbridge a 28-27 lead. That was after Downs banked home a 3-pointer with 33 seconds to play.

“(Marshall) is a special kid,” said Williams. “A great athlete. She’s going to do great things in her region.”

Three halfcourt sets for Bainbridge led to an eight-point first quarter while Colquitt was way off the mark and taking extra-long 3s. It was 8-0 going into the second, 10-0 overall in the opening run for the visitors.

Downs stuck a jumper at 7:26 of the second. Hall’s jumper in the lane at 2:33 and Tionna Hunt’s put-back from a free throw pulled Colquitt within two, 11-9. The Lady Packers went zone on the defensive end with both Downs and Hunt causing turnovers and holding Bainbridge to one field goal in the quarter.

At the half, it was 13-9 Bainbridge. Much like the second period, Downs and Hall stuck early jumpers in the third, but it was not the start of a hot shooting streak. Akia Sutton added a long 2 giving the hosts the lead at 16-15.

To close the quarter, Downs stole an inbound pass at midcourt, which led to Hall banking in a jumper. But the Lady Bearcats were on top 19-18.

But Downs stuck her first attempt of the fourth and caused another mid-court turnover. Bainbridge gave the ball up quite a bit in the half with steals by Eriyona Stokes and Abiyah Spencer.

With four points on the boards by Marshall, the Lady Bearcars stayed even with Colquitt, and before the Downs 3 they went up 26-24 running the floor on a missed shot.

“I’m excited for Lady Packer basketball as a whole,” said Williams. “We have good players in this program. We’re not going to get caught up in points, but winning and playing defense.”

Packers also unbeaten

Colquitt County High’s boys basketball team improved to 5-0 Tuesday quickly dispatching of Bainbridge 66-40.

Coach Andy Harden said it was a game where the Packers were locked in defensively, holding the Bearcats to single-digit totals through the first three quarters. And most of their points, 25 in all, were foul shots.

For Colquitt, Cameron Singletary had 17 points and Nizarre Thompson came off the bench to score 16. DaNas Andrews scored nine and Jy Andrews six.

Singletary and J. Andrews each sunk 3s in a tightly contested first period. Colquitt only led at the end, 11-9, when Singletary used Trent Roberts’ screen for a jumper.

It was a 13-0 Packer run, though, with Thompson’s corner 3-ball and Montavious Ponder’s steal and assist on the run to Singletary. D. Andrews also had a steal in the lane and took the ball end to end for 20-9.

Singletary scored five more in the final two minutes with D. Andrews throwing a baseball assist. It was 25-18 at the half.

Singletary, J. Andrews and Thompson all sunk treys in the third period, and Roberts ended it at 44-25 crashing the offensive boards.

Quentin Dopson had five points and Tyrese King four.