Shane Thomas | The Valdosta Daily TimesLowndes guard Kaleb Thomas (10) drives to the basket against Coffee's Jayce Moore (24) during the fourth quarter Tuesday night at the Crimson Coliseum.

VALDOSTA –– Tiffany Smith’s layup with 4.4 seconds left lifted the Lowndes Vikettes (8-3) over the Coffee Trojans (2-4) on Tuesday night.

The Vikettes did not play well, particularly in the fourth quarter, but rallied from an 11-point third quarter deficit to win. A big reason, head coach Antonia Tookes said, was slowing the tempo.

“We went to our delay game and the delay seemed to settle our team down,” Tookes said. “I was trying to think of something to do and that came to mind. Thank God it came to mind at the right time, because we just practiced it yesterday.”

A layup by Coffee’s Trinity Gamble put the Trojans up 25-14 with 4:48 left in the third quarter. A pair of free throws by sophomore Kiersten Graham sparked a 6-0 run to end the quarter as Mikyla Woods made two free throws with 1:15 left.

Taje Middleton split at the line and made a strong drive for a layup to pull the Vikettes within two points with 6:46 to go in the game. The Trojans responded with a layup by Gamble and two free throws by junior Katrina Gaskin to go up 29-23 with 5:38 remaining. Woods worked the baseline and got open for a 13-foot jumper that splashed through on the next possesion before Middleton drilled two more free throws to cut the Coffee lead to 29-27 with 4:46 to play.

After forcing a backcourt violation on the Trojans, Woods found a gap in the Trojans’ zone defense along the right wing and buried the Vikettes’ only 3-pointer of the game with 4:01 to go –– giving Lowndes a 30-29 lead.

Coffee senior guard Naomi Jefferson hit two free throws to put the Trojans back in front 31-30 with 2:22 remaining. Despite turning the ball over three times in the final minute, the Vikettes’ defense forced four Trojans turnovers in the final minute as well. After winning the jump ball on the alternating possession, the Trojans committed a traveling violation with 10.5 seconds left in regulation.

Smith got the ball at the top of the key, attacked to her right and sprawled out for a running bank shot off the glass that dropped through as time ticked away –– giving the Vikettes the victory. The win for the Vikettes was a bounce back following a 52-48 loss to rival Valdosta on Saturday.

“We had entirely too many turnovers and not enough made free throws to combat for all the turnovers,” Tookes said. “We didn’t execute at the line and people are passing people the ball when their feet are still moving. How are you gonna know where to pass it to? You’ve got to wait until that person stops before she can catch the ball and that’s something we’re gonna work on.”

Middleton led the Vikettes with 12 points, making 6-of-7 from the free throw line. Middleton proved to be one of the few bright spots for the Vikettes at the charity stripe as the team finished 13-of-24 in the game. Smith finished with nine points, making just 3-of-11 free throws in the win while Woods scored five of her seven points in the fourth quarter.

“I told them in the locker room, ‘An ugly win is better than a loss any day,'” Tookes said of the game. “But for them to come back from 11 points down and battle back –– and we battled back against this team twice down double figures –– I think we’re getting where I want them to be as far as having heart, having fight in them and I love them for that. To come back and if you’ve got a team that’ll fight to the end, you’ve got you something.”

Coffee boys 67

Lowndes 52

The Lowndes Vikings (5-5) fell down by 14 points early and never quite broke through as they fell to the Coffee Trojans (7-1) 67-52 in the nightcap.

Jayce Moore had 19 points for the Trojans, including 10 in a decisive third quarter that saw the Trojans extend their seven-point halftime edge to a 56-41 lead. Lowndes coach Donnie Holland pointed to the Trojans’ length and quickness, as well as his own team’s inability to take care of the ball as downfalls against the No. 1 team in Region 1-6A.

“Honestly, one reason we struggled making shots is they’re pretty good defensively,” Holland said of the Trojans. “They’re very quick and long and they pressure you into maybe taking the shot that you don’t want to take. We didn’t get many open looks –– we got some towards the end of the game, but that first half, there weren’t many open looks there. Their length inside…you take it to the hole and they block it. That kind of gets your confidence down a little bit. … They’re a good team –– they’re not No. 1 in the state in their region for no reason.

“Had we hit some shots earlier, maybe we could’ve kept it closer. But the bottom-line with this club right now is we’re struggling to take care of the basketball. We’ve been averaging 17.5, 18 turnovers a game and unofficially, we had 17 tonight. A lot of our mistakes are just unforced turnovers –– too much dribbling, throw a bad pass. It’s frustrating right now.”

The Vikings trailed 16-6 after a first quarter that saw them go the first 3:12 without a basket. A 3-pointer by Coffee forward Kevon Moore gave the Trojans a 24-10 lead midway through the second quarter but a triple by senior Miguel Acevedo keyed a 10-3 spurt that brought the Vikings within seven points.

Junior guard Zack McBurrough sizzled off the Vikings’ bench with a team-best 18 points, opening the game a perfect 6-of-6 from the beyond the arc. McBurrough finally missed his only two baskets in the fourth quarter, a floater off the glass and a 3 from the right wing with the game out of reach.

With Acevedo struggling to find the range early, Holland called McBurrough’s number and found a hot hand.

“Miguel was struggling shooting early,” Holland said. “Oscar (Norton) was struggling –– I think he hit one three late, but Zack was hitting his shots and he earned a lot more playing time tonight. I’ve got to get him in the game more.”

With a roster that features 6-foot-4 Tarius Collins as its tallest player, the Vikings couldn’t effectively combat the lengthy Trojans led by 6-foot-8 forward Mackenzie McFatten and 6-foot-5 Richard Styles up front.

As the turnovers mounted and the Trojans were able to get into their transition game, the Vikings never got closer than 12 points in the second half.

“I think that’s the key –– if you look at the first quarter, when it was five-on-five, we did a decent job with them,” Holland said. “They got a few put-backs where they were just longer on the rebounds, but you can expect that with a club like (Coffee). But when you turn it over, that’s when they got out running. What sticks out to me is we had a two-on-one fast break and instead of scoring, we turn it over and they dunk it on the other end.

“That’s the kind of stuff right now that’s killing us. We can’t capitalize on some opportunities we have and it ends up being a bad play for us. Nine out of 10 times when you turn the ball over in the backcourt, it’s gonna be a layup or dunk down the other end. We’ve just got to get better taking care of the basketball –– that’ll eliminate two problems; One, the other teams won’t get those easy transition buckets and two, we’ll get more shot opportunities. We’ve got to keep working.”

UP NEXT

The Lowndes boys and girls teams are back in action on Friday as they host Cook starting at 6 p.m.