By Jon Scroggins
Special to The Observer

MOULTRIE – The Colquitt County middle school Lady Packer basketball teams split their season-opening doubleheader with Bainbridge on Tuesday at the C.A. Gray Junior High gymnasium.

The sixth- and seventh-grade team fell 16-15 and the eighth-grade team won 32-13.

In the first game, the youngest Lady Packers led 5-2 at the end of the first quarter, but found themselves on the wrong end of a 10-0 second quarter to go to halftime down by seven.

“I was pleased with our hustle tonight, but we have a lot to learn,” coach Jon Scroggins said. “There’s nothing wrong with us that some gym time won’t cure. We will be back to work tomorrow.”

After halftime, the Lady Packers outplayed the Lady Bearcats 10-4 in the final two quarters.

D’Kyra Jones led the way with eight points. Mea Rodriguez scored four and Hartley Greene scored three.

Scroggins also praised the defense and leadership of Caitlyn Spralding, Laila Myrick and Ra’Kyja Sumlin.

“I really like this team. We are going to work hard and improve quickly, I can tell. I’m excited,” Scroggins said.

In the back half of the doubleheader, the eighth-graders started slowly, leading just 1-0 until the midway point of the opening quarter, but then the scoring came in bunches. The Lady Packers scored 12 more points to lead 13-2 going into the second period and they never looked back.

Tnyha Young paced the team with 12 points, including nine in the first half.

Kyndall Pettis and Addison Young scored six points each, Annalee Thompson and Kylie Pettis each hit a 3-pointer, and Kaniyah Brown made a 2-point basket.

“I’m pleased with our effort,” Coach Kimberly Taylor said. “We’ve got a lot to work on, but for our first game, I saw a lot of good things tonight.

“We have all the potential in the world. A lot of these girls played for me last year, and then we have some new additions that will help us tremendously.”

The Lady Packer middle school teams will travel to play Bainbridge again on October 28.