Shane Thomas | The Valdosta Daily TimesLowndes senior guard Miguel Acevedo (3) goes up for a layup around Camden County’s Kent Garard (1) during the second quarter of a region game Friday at the Crimson Coliseum.

VALDOSTA –– On Senior night, the Lowndes Vikettes (13-9, 2-3 Region 1-7A) played perhaps their best game of the season in a 50-43 victory against region foe Camden County (11-7, 2-3) on Friday.

Senior Tiffany Smith and sophomore Taje Middleton scored 15 points apiece as the Vikettes picked up their second straight win. The Vikettes led by as many as 16 points, relying on feisty, swarming defense to fuel an offense that made the extra pass often for easy baskets.

“I think we executed well,” Vikettes coach Antonia Tookes said. “We played defense tonight better than we played it all year and that was the key. I told them if all five play defense, we will have a chance to win and they bought in and they played defense tonight.”

Lowndes led Camden 34-18 at halftime, but took control of the game with a key second-quarter run. A 3 by Middleton followed by a steal and layup by Smith sparked an 11-2 run –– senior Aaliyah Lane hit a floater along the right baseline then scored again off a hit-ahead pass by Kiersten Graham to give the Vikettes a 24-10 lead with 4:17 left before the half, forcing a Camden timeout.

The run proved vital as the Vikettes not only built on their lead, but showed the mental toughness necessary to handle Camden’s comeback. The Wildcats pulled as close as six points on a 3-pointer with 4:54 left, but baskets by Graham and Smith late sealed the victory.

“It was huge,” Tookes said. “We played defense the first half better than the second half, but when (Camden) was trying to make their run back, we showed that we’ve got mental toughness now. I told them in the locker room, ‘They’re not gonna quit, they’re gonna fight back. We’ve got to withstand the run.’”

At the beginning of the season, following a 13-point non-region loss to Cook, Tookes said her team needed to get tougher mentally and physically and figure out the type of team it needed to be.

Friday’s win tied the Vikettes with the Wildcats in the region standings with one region game remaining, a Feb. 1 road matchup at Colquitt County to finish the regular season. Tookes believes the win against Camden sent a message to the rest of Region 1-7A: The defending region champions have clawed their way into the hunt.

“I think we’ve improved a lot,” Tookes said of her team. “Everybody has stepped up their game. Now that they’re seeing when you’re playing a region tournament, all these games matter in your seeding. Where we were at in the region, we had to get this W tonight to send a message to the rest of the region because we are the defending region champions and we should be playing for the region championship. I kept telling them that and I think they’re starting to believe it.”

Camden County 59

Lowndes boys 57

The Lowndes boys (12-10, 1-4 Region 1-7A) fought back from a 13-point deficit to tie Camden County (15-6, 4-1) twice in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t break through as they lost a 59-57 heartbreaker on Friday night.

A three-point play and an offensive rebound put-back by sophomore Jahbori Raines tied the game at 46 with 5:20 left in regulation. The Wildcats responded with a three-point play inside by 6-foot-6 power forward Atriel Washington and a layup by junior Kevin Luna to take a 51-46 lead with 3:51 remaining. Following a strong driving layup by senior Miguel Acevedo, the Vikings forced a Wildcats turnover and got the ball to Raines who attacked the rim and drew contact on a finish for another three-point play to tie the game at 51 with 2:49 left.

After a turnover by Acevedo, Camden went down and got the ball to Washington who scored on consecutive turnaround jumpers over shorter Lowndes defenders. Camden forced a Lowndes miss and a layup by junior Andre Rogers capped a 6-0 run to put the Wildcats in front 57-51 with a little more than a minute to go.

The Vikings, showing some resiliency, refused to go away quietly. A driving layup by senior Kaleb Thomas cut the Camden lead to 57-53. With a chance to pull within two, junior Tony Wiseman drove and eluded his defender with a nifty euro-step but couldn’t get his floating bank shot to fall. Wiseman fouled the Wildcats’ Chandler Conner, who made 1-of-2 free throws with 32 seconds remaining, giving Camden a 58-53 lead.

Wiseman knocked down a big corner triple on the ensuing Lowndes possession to cut the lead to 58-56 with 22.7 seconds to go. As Camden went to inbound the ball, Lowndes senior Ty Simms looked to have snuck in for a key steal under the basket, but was whistled for a foul. Camden’s Cam Doran split a pair of free throws to keep the window slightly ajar for a Lowndes comeback.

Thomas split a pair of free throws with 15.2 seconds left and the Vikings forced Doran into a traveling violation to set up a timeout and a chance to tie or take the lead on a 3-pointer. However, out of the timeout, the Vikings looked indecisive and burned four seconds off the clock before trying to get a shot. Thomas drove the lane and found Raines open on the baseline for a potential game-tying shot, but the shot missed off the front rim as time expired.

Lowndes coach Donnie Holland ripped his team for its lack of execution on the final play.

“Well, that’s a tough place to put a sophomore in to take the shot –– that’s not who we wanted to take the shot, but obviously, nobody else wanted to take it so that’s why they passed it up,” an ornery Holland said of the final shot. “We’ve got nobody right now that wants to step up and take those shots. That’s why we’re where we are…we’ve got no leadership.”

Though the Vikings played hard to get back in the game down the stretch, the Wildcats’ height inside kept the Vikings just out of reach of critical rebounds and paid off on the offensive end with Washington’s late baskets. 

The Vikings started slow and timid against the Wildcats, before waking up a bit to trailed 28-23 at halftime. In a region game Holland deemed a must-win after a non-region win against Thomas County Central, Holland was disappointed in how his team started the game.

“We didn’t show nothing in the first half,” Holland cracked. “We deserved to lose. We didn’t play well enough to win. I’m very disappointed in the way we played. I’m very disappointed in our toughness –– we aren’t tough, we’re so soft it’s pitiful.”

Doran had 15 points for the Wildcats, knocking down four 3-pointers as Camden picked up its second straight victory.

Oscar Norton led the Vikings with 13 points, burying three 3-pointers during an 11-point third quarter. Raines finished with 10 points in the loss.

Despite battling back from a 13-point deficit, Holland was in no mood for moral victories as his team dropped to 1-4 in region play and currently mired in a stretch of four losses in its last seven games.

“As big as this game was and to come out and play like [expletive] in the first half –– just play like we’re scared, nobody can hit a shot, nobody can make a free throw, we turned the ball over eight times in the first half,” Holland said. “We’re just not very good right now, that’s the bottom line. I wish it were better, but it is what it is.”

UP NEXT

Lowndes goes on the road to finish the regular season, traveling to Adel to face Cook on Jan. 29 and wrapping up with a region game against Colquitt County on Feb. 1.