VALDOSTA — The Valwood Lady Valiants did something on Friday night that they hadn’t done in five years — win a region game.
The Lady Valiants defeated the Sherwood Christian Academy Lady Eagles, 37-32, and they received a standing ovation from the crowd as they celebrated at midcourt at the final horn.
“It was great,” Lady Valiants coach Jessica Durrence said. “It was the first game that I’ve been at that we’ve won. We’ve won twice this season, and I had to miss the first one. It was great. We didn’t really talk much (after the game); there was too much excitement.”
The game was tight throughout and came down to the final minute.
Valwood (2-5) reeled off six consecutive points to take a 33-32 lead late in the fourth period.
Trying to retake the lead, the Lady Eagles inbounded the ball with under 40 seconds left, but threw it out of bounds while trying to get it to the corner.
With the ball back in Valwood’s possession, the game came down to the Lady Valiants making free throws. They did just that.
Leading by one, Lily Waldron stepped to the free throw line with under 30 seconds to go and nailed two free throws to put Valwood up, 35-32.
Sherwood Christian’s Katie Foster heaved up a 3-point shot with under 10 seconds to go, and it just missed, bouncing off the back of the rim.
Valwood’s Taylor Pegg grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 7.1 seconds left. Like her teammate Waldron, Pegg stepped to the free throw line and drilled both attempts to put the game away and send the crowd into a frenzy.
“Every day, we practice free throws,” Durrence said. “If we have a two-hour practice, they have to make 20 free throws before they leave the gym, so I guess it paid off. I was hoping that little bit of practice would pay off, and it did.”
The Lady Valiants looked like they were going to pull away early in the second half. Hope Jackson hit a 3-pointer in the first minute of the third period to put Valwood up 20-13, but Sherwood Christian stormed back behind Emilee Cook, who scored a game-high 16 points.
Cook made a layup to retake the lead, 22-20 for the Lady Eagles late in the third period. Valwood fought back to take the lead, 25-23, with under 10 seconds to go in the third, but the Lady Eagles hit a long three-pointer with just seconds left to take a 26-25 lead.
The Lady Eagles used that momentum early in the fourth period to take a 32-27 lead, but they wouldn’t score again, as the Lady Valiants made their improbable comeback.
Jackson and Waldron each scored nine points for the Lady Valiants. Heather Hathcock and Courtney Harris added five apiece.
In the boys’ game, the Valiants didn’t have the banner night that the girls team did.
Sherwood Christian jumped out to a 15-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game and never look back, winning 94-28.
The Valiants (0-9) had trouble stopping Sherwood big man Cameron Williams. Listed at 6-foot-4 and pushing 300 pounds, Williams dominated the paint and offensive glass. He scored 34 points, even though he was pulled out with 4:37 left in the third period.
For the Valiants, Deron Smith scored a team-high eight points. Adam Dye scored six while Alex Waldron and Carter Karras added five points apiece.
Both the Valiants and Lady Valiants will be back in action on Monday at home against Southland Christian. The girls start at 6:30 p.m. and the boys start at 8 p.m.
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Lady Valiants beat Sherwood
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