MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County Lady Packer eighth-grade basketball team finished off a perfect season on Monday by defeating Valdosta Middle School 32-25 to claim the Southwest Georgia Middle School Athletic Conference championship.
“This whole season was about unfinished business,” coach Kim Taylor said. “That was our motivation. We knew we had a chance to do something special this year and tonight we finished what we started.”
The game, held at the C.A. Gray Junior High gymnasium, began as a defensive struggle, with the first point not coming until near the three-minute mark of the opening period.
The Lady Packers held a 3-1 lead at the end of the first quarter, but took advantage of their strength advantage in the second, scoring eight points in the paint and taking an 11-7 lead into halftime.
The second half took on a whole different tenor, as both teams hit outside shots, got out in transition and the game sped up.
Foul trouble followed and both coaches had to rely on their benches to keep up the pace.
For Colquitt County, Kaniyah Brown went in, earned a trip to the free throw line — hitting one of two — and scored a physical basket inside.
Annalee Thompson went in and immediately hit a 3-pointer that gave the Lady Packers a momentum bump.
“They were huge,” Taylor said. “Kaniyah played defense, rebounded, scored inside. Annalee came in cold and immediately hit a big shot.
“We needed their contributions and they were ready and responded.”
Tnhya Young led all scorers with 11 points. Addison Wiley and Brown scored five each, Kyndall and Kylie Pettis scored four apiece and Thompson finished with three.
Taylor also mentioned the tremendous leadership of her starters, the Pettis sisters, Young, Wiley and Delyzsha Tillman.
“These girls have been with me for two and three years now, they have worked hard and grown individually and as a team,” Taylor said. “If they stay together, stay committed, keep working … they can be phenomenal, there’s no question about it.”
The championship game signifies the end of the eighth-grade Lady Packer basketball season, but many of the players have also been playing with the junior varsity team, and that will continue for the rest of the high school season.
On Tuesday, the seventh-grade Lady Packers travel to Newbern Middle School in Valdosta to compete in their conference championship game, which will begin at 4:30 p.m.