MOULTRIE – The 72-point total is an impressive one for high school basketball, but Colquitt County girls coach Rondesha Williams saw some struggle out of the Lady Packers in opening up the 2017 Vereen Christmas Shootout Wednesday on William Bryant Court.

Leading only by three midway through the third quarter, there was a spark of offensive rebounding out of first-year varsity player Janiah Ellis. Three of her boards were the big part of a 13-2 quarter-ending run by Colquitt County, who upended Monroe High of Albany 72-48.

Diamond Hall scored 23 points to lead the winning effort, and Za’Nautica Downs scored 16. Ellis, coming off Williams’ bench, scored 12 points.

The Lady Packers only trailed Monroe in the game’s opening minutes. With the score tied 4-4, the home team went on a 13-1 run. There were a lot of active hands on defense, including those of starter Tionna Hunt with her steal and assist under the basket that led to the tiebreaking points. Colquitt was also a streaky shooting team, long range shots falling in bunches like the spot-up 3 by Downs and Akia Sutton’s long 2 the next time down court.

Ellis even provided 2 on the put-back in the opening period. The finale was provided by Hall with not one but two two-steps from the arc 3s from the same spot. Her second one left her hands with less than two seconds on the quarter clock.

Colquitt’s girls led 20-8 going into the second quarter and was ahead by as many as 17 despite making just one field goal in the first 4:30. They left a lot of points on the floor from throwaways and errant shooting, but on defense had two steals by reserve forward Chyna Calhoun.

Down to the 3:37 mark before halftime, Monroe scored 3 the long way, which was just its second made basket of the period to that point. But it was more than Colquitt had … for a brief time until Downs matched it at 3:22. Monroe’s offensive rebounding, however, got them five points in a row.

From second-chance shooting, the Lady Tornadoes scored four more in the final minute before halftime. The Lady Packers only countered with two by Downs on the rebound from reserve Ty’mia Sanders. At the half, Colquitt’s lead was 13, 35-22.

Hall sat for most of the early portion of the third quarter when she picked up a quick foul. Here’s where the Colquitt offense struggled the most with no baskets from the floor for more than three game minutes. By grabbing those second chances and pushing the basketball, Monroe had the lead sliced down to three points, 37-34. Most of the damage was done by Kelsey Davis, who finished the game with 25 points.

Colquitt finally scored from the field in the second half at 4:26, Ellis doing the work on the offensive glass. From her own missed foul shot, she scored a third-chance basket. With one more Ellis put-back, Colquitt led 43-36. The Lady Packers would in fact end the third quarter with nine in a row as Hall sank 3 on a pass-back from Downs. Downs also blocked a Monroe jumper and Sutton stole a full-length pass.

Hall then scored five points to get the fourth period going. With Davis’ output slowing down for Monroe, Abiyah Spencer sank two 3-balls in the fourth to make it 62-37.

The Vereen Shootout continues today with Colquitt’s girls taking on Valdosta High in a scheduled 7 p.m. start. The Packers and coach Andy Harden are on the court again today for the final game vs. Coffee.

Other Shootout scores Tuesday had the Coffee boys falling to Leon High of Florida 55-46 and the Lowndes High girls losing to Norland High of Florida 49-47.