THOMASVILLE — Going into Tuesday, the Brookwood girls basketball team was riding high after a big win against Valwood, after not recording a single region win all of last season.

At the end of its next game, the Warriors were still searching for that second region victory.

Brookwood fell behind early and fought back to within four points, but visiting Tiftarea Academy stayed ahead throughout the game, as the Warriors took a 57-40 loss at Joe and Mary Beverly Athletic Center on Tuesday night.

The Warriors (14-5, 1-2 GISA Region 3-3A) began scoring with a 3-pointer from Mollie Vick, but the rest of the first quarter was rough for the home team. Tiftarea responded immediately with a 11-0 run, and Brookwood could not work inside well. Trailing 11-3 with 2:20 left in the quarter, Holland Walker added the second Warriors score of the game with another 3, cutting the lead to 11-6. However, the Panthers capitalized on a steal and an intercepted pass to eventually take a 17-8 lead heading into the second.

The Panthers continued to maintain their advantage, but Walker added two more 3s to narrow Tiftarea’s advantage to 23-17 midway through the period. With the Warriors inching closer, the Panthers scored a layup at the buzzer for a 27-19 lead at the half.

Jordan Burns and Martha Grace Dixon led Brookwood out of the locker room, cutting Tiftarea’s lead to 27-23 with 6:33 left in the third, the closest the Warriors came to overtaking their opponents. The Panthers quickly made their lead more comfortable, engineering a 12-0 run to put the Warriors back in a sizable deficit at 35-27.

Walker added her fourth 3 of the game in the final quarter, but it was not enough to propel the Warriors past their opposition, as the Panthers scored just enough to outlast the home team.

Walker led the Warriors with 21 points on the night, with Burns totaling seven points.

The boys game was completed after press time. For the full recap on both games, visit www.timesenterprise.com/sports.