Colquitt girls avenge loss to Valdosta; Packers fall to Wildcats again

Wayne Grandy, The Moultrie Observer, Ga.
·3 min read

Dec. 1—MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County girls basketball team avenged its one-point season-opening loss to Valdosta by knocking off the Lady Wildcats 58-52 on Tuesday on the William Bryant Court.

The Colquitt boys were within three points of the visiting Wildcats with 2:43 remaining, but were unable to score again and fell 52-41.

The Lady Packers evened their record at 2-2 by thwarting Valdosta's attempts to take advantage of its height advantage.

The Lady Cats' top two scorers were 6-foot-1 Esence Cody, who had 16 points, and 6-foot-3 Delissa Kier, who had 13.

But even with the two big girls inside, Valdosta did not control the boards and could not contain the Lady Packers trio of Amareyia Knighton, Carliss Johnson and D'zeriyah Polite, who scored 51 of the Lady Packers 58 points.

Knighton, a freshman, led Colquitt County with a career-high 21 points. Johnson, the reigning co-Region 1-7A Player of the Year, added 16.

The difference-maker for the Lady Packers was Polite, who is not usually known for her offense, but scored 14 in front of the home fans.

Polite scored five points in the first quarter, four in the second and five more in the third to help the Lady Packers take a 51-34 lead into the final quarter.

Valdosta outscored the Lady Packers 18-7 over the final eight minutes, but could make up the 17-point deficit.

"This was a good win for us," coach Rondesha Williams said. "Our inexperience showed in the final quarter. I told them that a good team, and Valdosta is a good team, will keep fighting.

"But all week we've been working on our confidence, telling them nobody is better than they are. And we played with a lot of heart."

Colquitt scored the final 10 points of the first quarter including a long 3-pointer at the buzzer by Polite, to claim an 18-8 lead.

The Lady Packers were big again in the third quarter, outscoring the Lady Cats 20-11.Polite had another 3-pointer to start the quarter.

Williams said she and her staff have been working to improve Polite's shooting and it paid off on Tuesday.

The victory was especially gratifying after the Lady Packers made up a big deficit at Valdosta in the season-opener to take a fourth-quarter lead, only to fall by a point.

Jamya Moore had five points and Heaven Robinson added a big fourth-quarter basket on Tuesday.

The Valdosta boys defeated Colquitt 80-54 in the first game of the season, but were unable to shake the Packers until late on Tuesday.

Valdosta junior James Siplen hit four first-quarter 3-pointers to help give the Wildcat an early 16-8 advantage.But the Packers rallied to trail by just two at the half and were in the hunt heading into the final quarter, just four points behind.

Colquitt had a momentary lead with 2:33 left in the third quarter when Montana Edwards hit a 3-pointer to put the Packers up 32-30.

But Valdosta's Cameron Jackson tied the game on a basket 11 seconds later and then put the Wildcats ahead to stay with a 3-pointer with 1:15 left in the third quarter.

The Packers, who fall to 0-3, were led by Nathan Harden. who had 17 points.Edwards had nine, Dy Williams had six, Calvin Washington had three and D'Morion Williams, Avari Blackwell and Tyshon Reed each scored two points.

Colquitt County will travel to play at Lee County on Saturday.