MOULTRIE – MOULTRIE – It’s a good time for a first-year varsity basketball player to have a career game.

Sophomore forward Gracie Bell Paulk scored 14 points – eight in the fourth quarter – while playing the entire contest Friday for Rondesha Williams and the Colquitt County High Lady Packers on William Bryant Court. Freshman Carliss Johnson put in a team-high 16 points in the 55-46 Region 1-7A home victory against the Camden County High Lady Wildcats.

Yes, two underclassmen out-did senior Janiah Ellis, who had 13 points. But Williams knows who carried the team to this victory that completed a regular-season sweep of the Wildcats. For one thing, Ellis dished out six assists, one that was for the highlight reel when Paulk had a hot hand shooting the basketball inside.

“(Paulk) played very physical,” said Williams, who was missing her regular starting forward Keyana Harper to injury. “We practiced the game plan, and they went out and executed. I’m very grateful. Camden is a great team, so I knew coming in it was going to be a battle. We rotated defensively correctly. I have to commend our younger kids who were able to step in and help when we got in foul trouble.

“Janiah played a really good game. She moved the ball, attacked the rim, got everybody involved. The key was elevation. We wanted to elevate our game a little higher. It was a team effort.”

What characterized the play of Camden County was its defensive play, and the visitors wanted to double the basketball any time possible. The Lady Packers, however, were effective with the high ball screens, something Paulk was focusing on instead of scoring in the first half. Colquitt reeled off seven in a row in the first quarter with Johnson using Audreyanna Rowland’s pick to hit a jumper and the double-teamed Ellis finding Camille Singletary open for 3.

The Lady Wildcats slipped ahead, though, with two treys. But that’s how the home team closed out the quarter. Ellis used Paulk’s high screen and again saw Singletary open beyond the arc. As the clock wound down, Ellis penetrated the lane but lost hold of the ball. There was Johnson to pick it up, release her shot with two seconds showing, and take the game into the second quarter 15-10 Colquitt.

Ellis had some kind of hand in three scoring possessions early in the second. Paulk, making sure she is not moving, set two solid screens high, and Ellis used them to either score 2 on the jumper or feed Johnson for 3. Ellis’ penetration and dish out to Singletary outside the arc gave the Lady Packers a 24-15 advantage.

All of Singletary’s 10 points were in the first half.

With under a minute before the break, Johnson was in a corner watching Ellis penetrate. Much the way the first period ended, the ball came loose in Johnson’s direction. She fired away, and at the half her team was up by eight, 27-19.

For the first three minutes of the second half, Camden held Colquitt to one field goal and drew five team fouls. Johnson took the ball away from the visiting point guard and got that only basket, but the lead was down to three, 29-26.

Colquitt benefitted from a pair of charging calls, and turnovers were plaguing both sides’ efforts. That’s when it was time for Paulk to show a little scoring touch. She was at the end of a press break feed from Singletary, and later she cashed in an inbounds pass. With 10 seconds to go, on Johnson’s 3-ball (assisted by Singletary) Colquitt’s lead after three quarters was 38-29.

Paulk didn’t give up her screening job, and she gave Ellis one for a jumper to start the fourth. The Lady Packers led by double figures most of the quarter as Ellis laid in 2 more off the dribble and Paulk scored three baskets in a row. When a turnover at 1:18 brought the margin down to eight, 49-41, the Lady Packers handled the press with Rowland assisting Paulk’s fourth field goal in a row.

Williams said Harper’s future playing status is still up in the air. Colquitt’s girls’ future is Monday’s MLK Holiday Classic game with Greenville at Albany’s Monroe High and region road trips to Tift County and Lowndes. They are 3-1 in Region 1-7A, the loss coming last weekend at home to Tift.

Scott scores 31 as Packer boys win

Behind a quiet 31 points from senior Elijah Scott, and some serious free-throw shooting, Colquitt County leveled both the regular-season series and the first-place spot in Region 1-7A with the Camden County High Wildcats. Senior Henry Daniels returned to coach Tremaine Facison’s lineup after missing three games recovering from a concussion, and off the bench he scored eight points in a 60-43 win against the Wildcats on William Bryant Court.

Both the Packers and Wildcats are 3-1 in the region standings, and Colquitt County swept all three 1-7A home games in the 2019-20 season.

The rest of the Packer scoring in this game also came from seniors. Tyler Walker added 12 points and Montavious Ponder nine.

Camden’s Andre Rogers topped the visiting Wildcats with 17 points. When he scored four of his points early in the third quarter, Camden led 34-31. They would not register any scoring from the floor the remainder of that quarter and the first 2:11 of the fourth. It was a big quarter for Scott, not just in offense but in rebounding and defending.

The Packers turned the game around with a 7-0 run. They completed the period with a 6-1 stretch Scott capped off with a follow-up attempt he released and hit inside the last second.

Up 44-37 at the start of the fourth, the Packers put the game away at the foul line. When the Wildcats broke their drought in field-goal shooting, it was 47-39 in favor of Colquitt County. The home team made 12 shots at the foul line over the last eight minutes, and that’s the same number they made in the fourth of the win against Lowndes the week before.

To start the game, it was all about 3-point shooting by the Pack, but the only one with any real success was Ponder. The Wildcats went on a 7-0 run that was halted by Walker scoring his team’s third 3. Ponder also stole the ball two times in a period that ended tied 12-12.

With Scott finally connecting from long range twice, and Daniels putting back 2 on the offensive glass, Colquitt scored on its first three second-period possessions. But the fourth ended in turnover points for Camden, and with three minutes to go Kent Garard sank the 3 in the middle of an 8-0 run.

For the Packers, the half ended with Ponder’s lob to Daniels. But Garard had a part in the last three Wildcats scores overall to give them the advantage, 27-23, at the half.

Up next for Colquitt County’s boys is the MLK Classic at Monroe’s Albany High Monday. They will look for better results than the 0-2 showing at the U-Save-It Classic the weekend before Christmas when they take on Dougherty High.