TIFTON — The Colquitt County girls basketball team was unable to hold an eight-point lead in the final 2:26 and fell 49-48 to Lowndes on Friday in one semifinal game of the Region 1-AAAAA basketball tournament at the Tift County High Arena.

The Lady Packers had a chance to win when freshman Nicolle Thomas was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer with 2.8 seconds left in the game.

But all three free throw attempts fell aside and Lowndes escaped with the one-point victory.

The victory sends the No. 2 seeded Vikettes to the tournament championship game at 7 tonight against Houston County.

The Lady Bears, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, knocked off top-seeded Tift County 38-35 in the other semifinal game on Thursday.

The Lady Packers will meet Tift County at 4 p.m. today in the consolation game, with the winner taking the region’s No. 3 seed into the state tournament. The loser will be the No. 4 seed.

Colquitt County and Lowndes had split their regular-season meetings and Friday’s game was close until Thomas hit a basket with 3:16 left in the game and added a free throw with 2:42 left to the give the Lady Packers a 47-39 lead.

But the Vikettes outscored the Colquitt County girls 10-1 down the stretch.

Star Bradley started the comeback with a pair of free throws with 2:26 remaining. Markeisha Close cut the Lady Packers lead to two with a 3-pointer with 55 seconds left.

Dorothy Strong got one point back when she hit a free throw with 54.8 seconds left, but when she missed the second, Bradley grabbed the rebound and was fouled by Taquella Coates.

Bradley hit both free throws at the other end and the Vikettes had pulled to within one at 48-47.

Then, as the Lady Packers were bringing the ball upcourt, Bradley came up with a steal and drove in for a layup with 35 seconds left to give Lowndes the 49-48 lead, its first since midway through the third quarter.

Colquitt had one last chance when Thomas was fouled by Stephanie Sermons while launching a 3-pointer.

But she was unable to connect and it will be the Vikettes playing in the tournament championship game.

Lowndes coach Shan Garner said that in a fourth-quarter time, his team told him “we cannot let this happen. We are not going out this way,” he said.

“We are the consummate team,” said Garner. “We’ll fight and we’ll defend. That is the bottom line. We sold out on defense.”

Lowndes will take a 22-4 record into tonight’s meeting with Houston County.

The Vikettes were led in scoring by Bradley, who had 14 points.

Sermons and Marley Williams each had nine and Krystal Thomas added seven. Close had five, Jennifer Pittman had three and Casey Parker had two.

The Vikettes had three 3-pointers and hit 10-of-17 free throws.

The Lady Packers wounded themselves by hitting just 12-of-31 free throws.

Lady Packers coach Joe Parker sympathized with Thomas, who is a ninth-grader.

“That was a tough spot to be in for a freshman,” Parker said. “But everybody missed free throws tonight.”

Parker was more concerned with how his team played the final two minutes.

“We did what we wanted to do,” said Parker, whose team stopped a 14-game Vikettes winning streak earlier this season. “We got them shooting 3s.

“We just succumbed to their pressure.”

The turnover that led to the Bradley basket that put the Vikettes ahead was especially disappointing to Parker.

“We talked about it,” Parker said. “We knew there’d be pressure. We’ve got to be able to get the ball down there.”

Colquitt County got a season-high 19 points from Strong, who had two 3-pointers and hit 5-of-9 free throws.

Ashley Stafford added 10, Thomas and Nikki Hudson each had six, Jessica Lemus had three and Coates and Tiffany Troupe each had two points.

Coates had eight rebounds to lead Colquitt County. Stafford had five assists.

“It’s not over,” Parker said he reminded his team. “We’ve got to play (today). We’ve got to get on the bus and play next week.”

The Lady Packers, now 17-9, had advanced with a 54-45 first-round tournament victory over Valdosta on Thursday.

In the other semifinal girls game, Houston County jumped to an 18-2 first-quarter and went on to defeat the top-seeded Lady Devils in their home gymnasium.

Justina Brownlee and Stephanie Brownlee each had 12 points for Tift County. Jessica Jenkins added 10.

Tonia Williams had 13 points in the first quarter for Houston County and finished with 15 points.

The Lady Bears were held without a field goal in the fourth quarter, but hung on for the victory.