Tift County sweeps region basketball games against Colquitt County

Published 8:40 am Sunday, January 10, 2021

TIFTON – Colquitt County struck first, but Tift County’s basketball teams staged two comebacks Saturday to win a pair of Region 1-7A games at home.

The Packers led by nine points in the first quarter and the Lady Pack had a 12-point advantage late in the second period of their respective games. In the end, it was Blue Devils 50 and Colquitt 40, with the Lady Devils taking a 48-43 decision.

With 48 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Gracie Belle Paulk knocked down a jumper that put Colquitt County up 26-14.

Coming back from a 12-point deficit is remarkable in the world of hoops. The comeback staged by the Lady Devils Saturday was much more than that.

Over the next 13 minutes, Tift County went on a 31-4 run.

“What?,” asked a shocked head coach Julie Conner after the game when she was informed of the rally. She still could not entirely process it and asked again. “What?”

The Lady Devils scored the last basket of the half, a three-pointer by O’ashia Cushion with 33 seconds to go. The momentum carried over into the third frame. Employing a suffocating fullcourt defense that resembled Nolan Richardson’s Arkansas teams, they scored the first 13 points of the period.

Tift forced turnover after turnover and scored on the transition.

Down 26-19, Cushion hit a shot from behind the arc. Twenty seconds later, she came up with a steal and fed it to Shakiria Chaney for a layup.

The heat turned up even more. A Colquitt travel violation turned into a Chaney jumper at 3:36 to take the lead at 27-26. The visitors were then called for a double-dribble. Tift’s subsequent possession finished with a three by Caitlyn Burgess.

Paulk halted the scoring spree momentarily by scoring on an offensive rebound, but the first Colquitt points in seven minutes could not stop the bleeding. Tamyra Carter and Chaney added two points each before the quarter ran out. The 26-17 halftime deficit was now a 34-28 lead.

Not satisfied, Tift scored the first five points of the fourth and 11 of the first 13. The lead peaked with 3:40 remaining when Burgess converted a steal to make it 45-30.

The Lady Packers found their second wind then, thanks to Carliss Johnson. Johnson scored 14 of their 15 fourth quarter points. Her three-pointer with 31 seconds to go cut it to its final margin. Tift played keep away long enough to nearly run out the clock.

Conner said she was not really worried about Colquitt’s first half lead.

“I really thought we had it under control,” she said. The Lady Devils and coaches may have been the only ones in the gym feeling that way.

Colquitt started about as red hot as a team can get.

Barely three minutes into the game the Lady Packers hit three three-pointers and had an 11-2 lead. Carter had a steal and score to slice the advantage to five points, but Johnson was fouled on a desperation three at the buzzer. She made all three free throws and it was 16-8.

Chaney worked it down to five points again in the second, before Rowland and Paulk pushed the lead to its apex.

Conner said she and her assistants wanted the players to relax in the second half. They did just that and are now 8-0 for the season, 1-0 in the region.

Chaney scored 20 for Tift for the night, with Cushion scoring six points. Johnson was the overall leader at 22. Rowland had 11, all in the first half.

DEVILS 50, COLQUITT 40

Tommy Blackshear’s Blue Devils don’t win pretty, they just win.

The team bested last year’s win total by taking their 10th against the Packers, a contest where they held the lead for less than three of the first 24 minutes.

Like the Lady Devils, they started slow.

Dy Williams got the Packers on the scoreboard with a quick three-pointer and when Nathan Harden scored on an offensive rebound at 4:50 in the first, they were ahead 9-0.

Torrance Galmer assisted a Jyamier Beckhom three at 3:54. The game was a struggle for both teams and the 9-3 score held for the remainder of the quarter.

Tift chipped and scratched at the lead, slowly working their way back in.

Beckhom and Hezekiah Jackson put together a brief 4-0 run to get to 11-9, but it took another two minutes before they took the first lead, 15-13, when Jatarion Warren fed a streaking Deyonte Dean for a dunk.

Warren got a put-back to go ahead 19-17, but Montana Edwards had the last basket of the half. It was a three with two seconds to go. The Packers went into the dressing room with a slim 20-19 advantage.

Tift came out firing with a Warren jumper – he had 13 in the third – but every Blue Devils bucket was answered immediately. He had a old-fashioned three-point play to go up 25-24, but Williams hit from behind the arc.

Williams and Dijmon Wheeler had back-to-back baskets for a 31-29 Colquitt lead before Dean tied it at 2:33. Two minutes later, Warren hit a three by Tift’s cheerleaders. The 34-31 advantage was not only their biggest of the game, but it ended up being the one that stuck.

Beckhom, the late-game magic man, started the fourth with a backcourt steal and jumper. Slowly, but surely the lead built. Tyler Parker scored and Warren added a free throw.

Tift went up 42-31 after Beckhom was fouled on a layup and made the free throw. Colquitt scored, but so did Beckhom.

The Packers couldn’t keep pace. Tyquan Mills made a free throw with 52 seconds to go that not only made it 50-37, but fouled out Edwards, helping to close the door on their chances.

Warren’s 20 led both teams. His climb to 1,000 career points is now at 989. Beckhom netted 12 points, seven in the final period. Besides earning their 10th win, the Blue Devils are now 2-0 in the region.

Williams and Harden each had nine points for Colquitt.