MOULTRIE – The Colquitt County middle school girls basketball teams swept two games on Thursday at Pine Grove Middle School with the sixth- and seventh-grade team winning 39-19 an the eighth-grade team earning a 47-33 victory.
Mea Rodriguez and D’Kyra Jones controlled the floor in the first game. Rodriguez scored eight and Jones tallied 10 in the first half, as the Lady Packers went into the locker room with a 24-8 lead.
“Our guards were very active early, getting their hands in the passing lanes and forcing turnovers,” coach Jon Scroggins said. “They had a great inside game — there was one excellent player in particular — so we had to work hard to keep them from getting the ball to her in close.”
Scroggins also praised the defensive efforts of Makairi James, Laila Myrick and Skyler Jenkins.
“They made her work for everything she got,” he said.
Rodriguez finished the game with 18 points and Jones had 16. Myrick added three and James contributed a basket.
The eighth-grade game started a bit slowly for the Lady Packers, who trailed 15-11 at the end of the first quarter and were still down by one point at halftime.
The third quarter was all Lady Packers, though, as they swarmed the ball, controlled the boards and had a 14-1 advantage for the period.
“We turned up the intensity in the second half,” coach Kimberly Taylor said. “We were too casual early, but we got it together there in the third. I challenged them and they responded.”
Kylie and Kyndle Pettis and Addison Wiley wreaked havoc on the Vikette ball-handlers and Delyzsha Tillman and Tania Young dominated down low.
The guards fed Young over and over, as she made it clear that the Pine Grove defenders could not handle her inside and scored 28 points.
Tillman added seven and Anijah Moore scored six off the bench. Wiley added three, Kyndle Pettis scored two and Kylie Pettis had a free throw.
The middle school Lady Packers return to action Monday at the C.A. Gray Junior High gymnasium, where they will face off against conference newcomer Thomas County Central, with the first game at 4:30 pm.