In earlier basketball action from the 2019-20 season, Colquitt County High boys coach Tremaine Facison has a timeout talk with the Packers.

MOULTRIE – What school has the best boys basketball team in Region 1-7A, at least from the showings after the first weekend of the new calendar year?

No one outside of southeast Georgia was going to guess Camden County High, but if you did, what lottery numbers are you picking?

While the Wildcats are sitting on top of the world known as 1-7A with a 15-2 record and 2-0 mark in the region, three other schools are struggling to get to the .500 line. One of those are the Colquitt County High Packers of coach Tremaine Facison at 5-8. After taking an overtime loss to Camden in Kingsland on Jan. 3, Colquitt is playing host to the other two teams that make up the region – Lowndes and Tift County – this weekend at William Byrant Court.

The Lowndes Vikings will cross over into Moultrie first tonight with a 6-9 record and 0-2 mark in the region. They too fell in their first encounter with Camden County 46-38 in Valdosta on Jan. 4. In that game, the Vikings trailed by three going into the fourth quarter, but Camden closed things out with an 11-4 eight-minute run.

The Tift County Blue Devils – perennial basketball power in this league – defeated Lowndes 63-56 on Jan. 3 … and it was their first home win of the season. Tift went from leading by 18 in the third quarter to trailing by five in the fourth. The home team tied the game 50-50 on a turnover, and then Azaria Smith scored two baskets to put them ahead. The Blue Devils added field goals on a rebound and a steal to lead 58-52 with less than two minutes to play.

On Tuesday, Tift went to Crisp County and won 58-47 for a 5-9 overall record. What that will be Saturday on its trip to Moultrie is pending a 1-7A contest tonight at home against the Camden Wildcats.

“We hope to make them 0-3,” said Facison, focusing first on the contest against Lowndes. It’s going to be an uphill battle, however, as the coach reported that senior starting forward Henry Daniels will miss the game due to a concussion. Daniels’ status for Saturday is also in doubt, he said.

“I feel comfortable with the guys we have,” said Facison, who also won’t have Lemeke Brockington, who is playing in a football all-star game. “We’ll have to move some pieces around.”

The Packers will also need to find a way to flip some close final results of late. The loss to Camden last weekend was in overtime 66-62. In the Vereen Christmas Tournament, Colquitt dropped a 65-62 decision to Lafayette, Ala. This past Tuesday, the Packers were in another overtime tussle but lost at Dooly County 71-68.

In this game, two Dooly Bobcats scored more than 20 points. Eric Ivory, behind seven 3-pointers, scored 23.

“We did not play up to our full potential,” said Facison. “We played with some resiliency. We were down by six with a minute to go and sent it to overtime, but we couldn’t pull it out. We waited to late to turn it on.”

The coach said the recent play of Elijah Scott and Tyler Walker has carried the Packers into the new year and that he can’t complain about the work they are putting in each day.

“I still believe,” he said.

GIRLS UPDATE

Even with a 13-3 overall record, Colquitt County High girls basketball coach Rondesha Williams isn’t likely to look at any Region 1-7A game with ease, especially playing two rivals on consecutive nights.

The Lady Packers’ most recent win came Tuesday at Dooly County 67-38. Up next is a Lowndes High squad that upended Camden County High in its last outing Jan. 4 54-43 in Valdosta.

This was after Colquitt’s girls won a one-point squeaker in Kingsland.

Lowndes’ girls are 11-4.

In the win over Camden, a three-point play from Taje Middleton put the Vikettes ahead 47-39 with 3:13 left.

The Vikettes led 31-18 at the half. Lowndes went 5-for-12 from the line in the final 1:30.

This victory came on the heels of a loss Jan. 3 to Colquitt’s Saturday night opponent, Tift County and head coach Julie Conner. For the first time in four years, the Lady Blue Devils topped the Lowndes girls by double digits, 62-51.

This game turned on a series of events that closed out the first half, one that Lowndes appeared to control.

But Tift’s Shakiria Chaney went to the free-throw line with 18 seconds left and made both for a 31-30 lead. Lowndes inbounded the basketball, but in the corner Nicky Jones forced a jump ball. The possession arrow favored Tift, playing at home.

Jones, at almost the same spot she forced the turnover, she sank a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left. The Lady Devils went into the locker room ahead 34-30.

Lowndes only got as close as one when Middleton opened the second half making 3. Middleton scored 19 points, but Chaney led the winners with 22.

Tift was also victorious at Crisp Tuesday to improve to 11-4. That will be different by Saturday as the Lady Devils take on Camden tonight.

The Lady Packers are led by senior and Troy-signee Janiah Ellis with her 23 points per game average. Freshman Carliss Johnson is undaunted by the varsity basketball world as she has two 20-point games so far to average more than 12 per game.