MOULTRIE – Since the expansion of the GHSA basketball playoffs to 32 teams, history is littered with first round No. 4-seed upsets of region champions.

Za’Nautica Downs and Diamond Hall made certain these 2017 Colquitt County High Lady Packers were not a part of that lore.

Downs’ 3-pointer sent Friday’s Class 7A opening round with Region 3’s No. 4 North Cobb into overtime. Hall made the ‘Player of the Year’ plays for a 7-0 run in the four extra minutes, and the Lady Warriors’ late rally was one-point short. So the Region 1-7A champions ‘survived and advanced’ 49-48 on William Bryant to face either Brookwood or South Forsyth in the second round at home (athletic director Greg Tillery said at the game the contest will be either Feb. 23 or 24).

Colquitt beat North Cobb in the first round of the state tournament last year, too, at home.

“Big-time players make big-time shots,” said coach Rondesha Williams about the Downs trey.

The Lady Packers led North Cobb 21-13 at the half, but that margin was shaved down to one, 27-26, going into the fourth period. North Cobb had some first-quarter leads, but went ahead for the first time in the second half on Shay Simpson’s banked shot at 5:30.

Colquitt County’s greatest detriment all game was its free-throw shooting. But not all misses were costly, for Diamond Hall rebounded one, and Akia Sutton found Kiarra Lovett open for the go-ahead lay-up.

Leading scorer for the game was Lady Warrior freshman guard Azonya Austin (26 points). Her third-chance 3-pointer tied the game 31-31. As regulation went under two minutes, Austin went inside for four more points in two possessions.

Colquitt County was down by five, 38-33, and went 2-for-4 at the foul line. With 45 seconds to play, it was North Cobb’s foul shooting that failed the visitors, the front end of 1-and-1 missing the mark. Colquitt rebounded, and Downs fired away with the all-net make. In the last 34 seconds, the Lady Warriors had shots both inside and out that did not fall.

North Cobb led just once in overtime, 42-41. Hall went to the basket and shot one-handed around 6-foot Lady Warrior junior Sydney Solomon. With the score 45-42, Hall made a big steal from Austin as she was dribbling the ball and turned it into a three-point play.

Hall finished the night with 21 points, and Downs had 17. The Lady Packer team, at the foul line, went 16-for-27. It’s a number that did not please Williams.

“It’s something we work on every day. And this is why we do it,” she said.

What could have been a serious turning point for the game occurred right at the start when Hall hit the floor hard after their first possession. As she underwent treatment, Tionna Hunt took her place and scored on a baseline drive.

Solomon gave North Cobb five points from the offensive glass and Austin hit 3, which was a counter to three from Downs. Lovett was able to hold her own getting rebounds on offense, and it all led to a tied score 10-10.

The Lady Packer defense shined in the second quarter with six stops out of eight Lady Warrior trips with no second shots. North Cobb did not make any field goals over these eight minutes, and Hall returned to the game to hit 3 at 4:44. She later cut to the basket and converted Lovett’s pass, and beat Solomon to a rebound and put-back.

Hunt also scored from rebounding to take the game into the half 21-13. Both Hall and Downs blocked shots from an active North Cobb substitute, Jazlyn Winstead.

Halfway through the third period, Austin’s 3-point attempt crept in to cap a 5-0 run. That pulled the visitors within two, 24-22, but Hall responded connecting from pro range. That was it, however, for the Lady Packers, who missed four foul shots in a row. The Lady Warriors pulled to within one, but turned the ball over for every missed CC free throw.

(Wayne Grandy contributed to this report.)