MOULTRIE – The Region 1-6A tournament runner-up Colquitt County girls basketball team will open state tournament play at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday on the William Bryant Court against Etowah High of Woodstock.
The Colquitt County boys will play their state tournament open at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Wheeler High.
The Packers will try to put an excruciating 42-40 loss to Tift County in the region consolation game on Saturday behind them when the go to Marietta to meet the Wildcats.
It will be a tall order for the 15-8 Packers.
Not only is Wheeler 24-3 and ranked No. 2 in Class 6A, the Wildcats are averaging 75.9 points a game.
They have scored 80 or more points in a game nine times; 90 or more six times; and have scored 103 against North Cobb and 101 against Leilehua High of Wahiawa, Hawaii, in a December tournament.
The Packers were within a few seconds of taking Region 1’s No. 3 seed when Tift County’s JJ Lamar hit a 3-pointer as time expired to drop the Packers to No. 4.
It was the second time this season that the Blue Devils had defeated the Packers on a buzzer-beater.
Colquitt has relied this season on the scoring of senior Kanilyn Jones and juniors Cason Harden and Marcus Moore, all of whom are averaging more than 12 points a game.
JaKari Byrd and Quan Kinsey have been the other two starters. Zhi Alridge scored a career-high 14 points in the loss to Tift on Saturday.
The Colquitt County-Wheeler winner will advance to play the survivor of the first-round matchup between Central Gwinnett and Chapel Hill.
The other three Region 1 boys teams who will open state tournament play on Wednesday are top-seeded Lowndes, which will be home to face Cherokee; runner-up Valdosta, which will play Etowah at home; and Tift County, which will go to Marietta to play Walton, the No. 5-ranked team in Class 6A.
The Lady Packers are the No. 2 team from Region 1 and hope to use a home-court advantage to get past Etowah’s Eagles, who are 20-8.
The Eagles are led by sophomore guard Savannah Aparicio, who is averaging 13.0 points a game.
The team’s leading rebounder is freshman Caitlyn Garcia, who is pulling down 6.6 boards a game.
Colquitt’s girls have won three of their last four, including two in the region tournament before falling to Lowndes 51-39 in the championship game.
The Lady Packers, under the direction of first-year coach Stephanie Cody, are led by All-State point guard Amira Walters-Smith, who is averaging 18.2 points a game.
Fellow senior Amareyia Knighton is scoring 12.6 points a game.
Sophomore Nacardia Robinson is averaging 6.6 rebounds.
That trio will be joined in the starting lineup by seniors Caylnn Singletary and Ta’Meria Williams.
If the Lady Packers can get by Etowah, they will play the winner of the game between 8-18 Chapel Hill and 23-2 Buford, the Region 8 champion.
Lowndes, Region 1’s top seed, will play host to 15-13 Marietta in the first round; No. 3 Richmond Hill, 19-7, will travel to play 25-2 and No. 2-ranked North Paulding; and 19-8 Camden County will go to Canton to meet 23-4 Cherokee, ranked No. 3 in the state.