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By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Jayde Sparks scored with five seconds left in regulation time to lift Houston County High’s Lady Bears to the first Region 1-AAAAA win of the 2009-10 season Saturday. Sid Baxley’s team defeated Colquitt County High 39-38 one night after losing 40-38 at Tift County High.
Tift County’s Amber McKenzie scored the game-winning basket on Friday with 6.4 seconds to go in the fourth quarter.
“They say things even out,” said Baxley. “We are probably due some more close wins from here on out.”
Houston County trailed Colquitt most of Saturday’s contest and only had the lead two times, both coming in the fourth quarter.
It was a different story in Tifton Friday. The Lady Bears led 8-4 after the first quarter and 21-18 at halftime. The visitors were up by as much as nine in the second half.
Tift County took the lead for the first time with 42 seconds showing on the clock. Kristi Malohi tied the game on a Sparks assist at :28, but then McKenzie scored the final points on an offensive rebound.
She also stole Houston County’s ensuing inbound pass.
Malohi had 12 points on Friday while Teresa Emerson scored 11.
“We’re right there,” said Baxley about his team’s propensity to stay in games in the tough 1-AAAAA league. He said if their fortunes are turning around, with the post-season tournament in the Houston County Bear Den the opportunity is there to steal the wins needed to qualify for the state tournament.
Houston County High boys basketball coach Jody Dean also knows that 1-AAAAA is a region with no off nights.
The Bears defeated Colquitt County High at home Saturday 50-46 to put a positive end to one of his program’s more frustrating series of games.
It started with the last-second loss on Tuesday at Warner Robins High. On Friday, the Bears lost by a deuce, 37-35, at Tift County.
In Tifton, the Blue Devils led 18-9 at halftime. Houston County got as close as one with five minutes left in the game after Tift County missed the third of three straight one-and-one front ends.
Returning home on Saturday, the Bears found points coming at a premium, but so did the visiting Packers from Moultrie. Houston County led 27-21 at halftime, and when Jalani Phillips scored off a Josh Gregory steal, it was 29-25 three minutes into the second half.
The Bears didn’t score again for about three minutes, and a 3-pointer from Colquitt had the margin down to one, 29-28, at 2:14.
Buddy Bivins hit a 3 at the quarter buzzer, but not after a crash under the basket when Colquitt missed a dunk on its offensive end. Lorenzo Quichocho grabbed the rebound and quickly threw it out to Robert Williams, who had a lot of tough plays not result in points.
Still, the home team led 32-28 when the fourth quarter began, and Quichocho’s long two-pointer on the first possession had the lead at six.
With five minutes left, Quichocho put Houston up 10, 41-31.
Even as Bivins used some expert dribbling to run time, Colquitt was able to cap a 6-0 run with 2:10 left (43-39).
It was still a four-point game at the final minute (48-44), and after two missed Bear foul shots, the Packers banked the ball for 48-46 with seven seconds showing.
The Colquitt bench made the mistake of calling for timeout without any left. Quichocho made the technical foul shots to give him 19 points in the game. Twelve of them came in the first half.
Bivins had 12 points and Gregory nine.
“Sometimes we over-think on how to beat a defense,” said Dean, whose team improved to 3-6 in region play. “We were shooting the ball well, but then stopped taking shots. But if we have games where we hold them in the 30s and 40s, we’re doing things right on defense.”
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