Colquitt splits with Dougherty

MOULTRIE -- The Colquitt County high basketball teams split their final games in the Colquitt County Invitational on Thursday at the Gladys Espy Gymnasium, with the Lady Packers winning 50-44 over Dougherty's girls and the Packers losing to Dougherty's boys 75-53.

Colquitt's girls ended a five-game losing streak with their win. The victory gets the Lady Packers back up to .500 at 6-6.

The Lady Packers overcame their own shaky foul shooting to drop the Lady Trojans to 2-6 on the season.

Dougherty's girls fell to Tift County in Wednesday's tournament opener.

The Lady Packers led by five at the half, but never could pull away from the stubborn Lady Trojans. A free throw by Dougherty's Kizuwanda James pulled Dougherty to within three at 47-44 with 20.4 seconds left.

Moments later, Dougherty's Lakella Harris tried a 3-pointer to tie the game, but missed and Colquitt's Ashley Stafford grabbed the rebound.

Stafford missed a free throw with six seconds left in the game, but teammate Jessica Lemus grabbed the rebound and put it in to give the Lady Packers the six-point victory.

The Lady Packers hit just 16-of-39 free throws, including only 6-of-17 in the fourth quarter.

Colquitt overcame a strong outing by Dorricia Johnson, who scored 13 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Amanda McDonald led the Lady Trojans in scoring with 15.

Stafford led the Lady Packers with 16 points. Lemus added 13. Dorothy Strong had seven, Nikki Hudson scored five, Latoya Carr had four, Tiffany Erving had three and Tiffany Troupe had a basket.

Stafford, who had 14 points in the Lady Packers loss to Westover on Wednesday, had 30 points in the two tournament games. Lemus had 25 points in the tournament.

Colquitt's boys were out-rebounded 38-23 and the Trojans did much of their scoring from in the the paint.

The loss was the second in a row for the Packers, who fall to 8-4 for the season.

The Packers kept themselves in the game with 11 3-pointers, including three each by John Michael Hall, Antwan Tuff and Ryshawn Melvin. Jeremy DeBruce and Andrew Wallace had the others.

Tuff led the Packers with 15 points. Hall and Wallace each had 10, Melvin had nine, DeBruce tallied seven and Kamarri Peterson had two.

Joshua Hunter led Dougherty with 16 points. Demetrius Kendrick added 13 and Montavius Chatman and robert Sanders each had 10.

Westover swept the two early games on Thursday, with the Patriots knocking off Tift County's boys 43-35 and the Lady Patriots winning 34-24 over Tift's girls.

The Westover's teams won both of their games in the invitational.

The Patriots, ranked No. 5 in Class AAA in Georgia, opened play on Wednesday with a 62-60 victory over Colquitt County.

Their points were down on Thursday, but the Patriots were able to hold off the Blue Devils.

Tift County's boys split their two games in the tournament and are now 7-6 on the season. The Blue Devils defeated Dougherty on Wednesday.

The Patriots were led in scoring by Brandon Shingles, who had 11 points.

Donnell Cullins, who led Tift County with 23 points on Wednesday, had 11 to lead the Blue Devils. Dustyn Baker added 10 and Keith Cagle had eight.

The Lady Patriots, who knocked off Colquitt County 52-37 on Wednesday, were held to just 34 points by the the Lady Devils. But Tift County managed just 24 points itself.

Jada Frazier, who had 19 points the night before in the victory over the Lady Packers, had 16 against Tift County. Tia Mallard added 10 and Kendra Berry had eight.

Jessica Jenkins had seven for Tift County, now 9-5.