MOULTRIE – The Colquitt County girls basketball team had to stave off a spirited Tift County rally to defeat the Lady Devils 56-47 on Monday in the Region 1-6A tournament play-in game.
The victory on the William Bryant Court earns the Lady Packers a berth in the tournament semifinals on Wednesday against top-seeded Camden County in Kingsland.
It also means the Colquitt girls have qualified for the state tournament for the 10th straight season.
Tift County fails to advance to the state tournament for the first time since 2010 and finishes 10-15.
The Lady Packers, now 16-7, went into the game as the No. 4 seed and the right to play host to No. 5 seeded Tift County.
The two teams had split their regular-season games, with each winning at home.
But after Tift County ran off 13 straight points to take a 41-40 lead with 5:10 remaining, it looked as if the visitor might take the game that counted.
After a timeout, the Lady Packers then regained the momentum, scoring the next seven points, including five by sophomore forward Nacardia Robinson.
“It had me staggering over here,” Lady Packers coach Stephanie Cody said of the Tift County rally led by Amiyah Jordan, who had 10 points in the run.
“But I just had to settle our team down, tell them we were not in a rush, just to do what we’d been doing and play the defense like we practiced it.”
Jordan, who had 15 points, fouled out with 2:35 left, but the Lady Devils pulled to within two at 49-47 on a pair of free throws by McKenzie Holiday with 2:22 remaining.
But the Lady Devils never scored again.
Colquitt got a basket and two free throws from Robinson and three straight from the foul line by Amareyia Knighton to close it out.
Robinson had a career-high 21 points, including nine in the final 4:54.
“We really needed her to step up,” Cody said. “And she did.
“She didn’t get discouraged when things didn’t go her way.”
Cody also was pleased with the play off the bench of Azaria Battle.
“Tift was trying to pound the ball inside and she was ready,” Cody said of Battle. “She was huge.”
The Lady Packers were able to overcome problems on the boards most of the game.
“I hate to see how many second-chance points they got,” Cody said. “We struggled getting rebounds, struggled getting in position to get rebounds.
“But we pulled it out.”
If the Lady Packers struggled on the boards, they did not at the foul line, hitting 15-of-17 free throws.
Colquitt also got 17 points from Amira Walters-Smith, who 12 points in the first two quarters helped the Lady Packers build a 30-18 halftime lead.
Knighton added eight, Caylnn Singletary had six and Battle and Kamya Thomas each had two.
Holiday led Tift County with 18 points.
Jalaya Miller had 10 in her final game as a Lady Devil. She finishes her career with 954 career points.
Camden County, which won the region and the right to play host to the tournament with its 8-2 record, defeated the Lady Packers 51-44 and 55-44 during the regular season.
In Monday’s other tournament play-in game, No. 3 Lowndes eliminated Valdosta.
The Vikettes will play No. 2 Richmond Hill at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Kingsland in the other semifinal.
The losers of the two semifinal games will play at 5:30 p.m. in the game to determine the Region’s Nos. 3 and 4 seeds in the state tournament.
The region championship game between the Camden County-Colquitt winner and the Lowndes-Richmond Hill winner will be played at 7 p.m. Friday at Camden County.
The Class 6A girls basketball tournament will begin on Tuesday, February 18.