VALDOSTA — The Lowndes Vikettes earned a regular season sweep of the reigning Region 1-AAAAA champion Tift County Lady Blue Devils on Tuesday night.

The Vikettes (20-1) overcame an early deficit to earn a 58-41 victory. Lowndes has now won its last nine games.

“We have depth, we have size, we have pride and we have heart,” Lowndes Vikettes head coach Shan Garner said. “I just hope that we can keep this streak going.”

Sophomore Tasia Brown continued her breakout season, leading Lowndes with 14 points. Danyelle Jones added 11, while Natalia Adams contributed with nine points. Courtne Washington finished with eight points, and Maggie McGlamry drilled two long balls and a free throw to finish with seven.

“They did a good job,” Garner said. “Tasia kind of carried us early there when the zone was giving us fits. It is a good weapon to slow somebody like us down, with the athletes that we have. But Jones stepped up and started making some shots tonight, and she made some free throws down the stretch. But I can’t say enough how hard Courtne and those girls worked down low tonight.”

Raven Ashley led the way for Tift County with 16 points, while DeeDee Deshazer added eight points.

Tift County raced out to a quick 8-0 lead behind four points from Ashley and Deshazer. Brown put an end to the Lady Blue Devils’ run with a basket at the 4:00 mark.

Following Brown’s basket, Tift County extended its lead to eight points, 11-2. From there, it was all Lowndes.

The Vikettes outscored the Lady Blue Devils 26-8 to finish out the half, grabbing a 28-19 halftime advantage. Lowndes’ run lasted from late in the first quarter through the second quarter, a run that featured scoring plays from six different Vikettes.

During that run,     Lowndes outscored Tift County 18-4, grabbing a 20-15 lead. McGlamry’s first 3-pointer with 6:08 remaining in the second quarter gave Lowndes its first lead of the night at 16-15.

“We came out and missed a few early shots and then we got tentative,” Garner said. “And you know, you can’t get tentative. Your kids that can now they can shoot have to step up with some confidence.”

Tift County brought Lowndes’ lead to as little as five points, 30-25, early in the third quarter, but the Vikettes recovered and re-built a double-digit advantage, 38-26, late in the frame. Brown led LHS with eight points in the quarter, as only Courtne Washington was the only other Vikette to score in the quarter.

Lowndes finished the game on a 9-0 run, which came after Tift County brought the score to just eight points, 49-41. The eight-point deficit for the Lady Blue devils was the closest they would come within the Vikettes in the quarter.

Lowndes travels to Douglas to face Coffee on Friday night.



Tift County boys 68, Lowndes 60



VALDOSTA — For the second time this season, the Lowndes Vikings couldn’t stop Tift County, as the Blue Devils secured a 68-60 victory.

Tadric Jackson led the way for the Blue Devils with 19 points, while Austin Picket and Ali Vaughn recorded 12 points.

For Lowndes, Josh Clemons had a team-high 18 points, while Kevin Willard added 14 points. Justin Williams finished the night with 10 points.

“If we could have kept (Josh) in the game, I think we would have had a chance,” Lowndes head coach Kingston Clark said about Clemons, who fouled out of the game. “When he fouled out of the ball game, I think the air kind of went out of us.”

After the two teams traded three-point baskets to start the game, Tift County jumped out to a commanding 15-5 lead, using five points from Vaughn. Lowndes came thundering back, tying the game at 15-15 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was owned by the Blue Devils. After Lowndes went took a 22-17 lead behind a Clemons field goal, Tift County used a commanding 13-0 run to close out the first half to build a 10-point, 32-22, halftime advantage.

From there, Lowndes closed the gap on several occasions, bringing Tift County’s lead down to just three points twice in the third quarter. In the third quarter, six different Vikings scored from the floor, while Jackson recorded seven points for the Blue Devils.

Tift County was able to build a nine-point advantage early in the fourth quarter, 57-48, but the Vikings came charging back. Tremayne Tippins nailed a field goal, which was followed up by a Clemons jumper and a Justin Williams 3-pointer, which made the score 57-55.

Unfortunately for Lowndes, Tift County earned a quick basket on the other end, re-extending its lead back to four points. The Blue Devils then quickly added another basket, making the score 61-55.

“It seemed like every time we had some momentum going our way, we would make a foul or something like that and it just turn all over again,” Clark said.

From there, the two teams swapped baskets and fouls, with Tift County outscoring the Vikings 7-3 in the final minute of regulation.

With the win, Tift County remains in sole possession of first place in Region 1-AAAAA, while Lowndes remains in fourth place. The Vikings will face Coffee Friday night.