VALDOSTA – Playing back at home for the first time since Dec. 3, the Valdosta boys and girls basketball teams picked up big region wins against rival Colquitt Saturday night.

In the nightcap, the ‘Cats used a late third quarter surge to cruise to a 64-33 win over the Packers.

A 3-pointer by Cameron Jackson with 1:41 left in the third quarter lit the fuse on a decisive 31-10 run to close the game for the ‘Cats.

“Really, we were just playing good basketball,” Wildcats head coach James Lee said. “We made the game too difficult in the first half. We came out and made the simple plays in the second half and I think that really made the difference. Sometimes, we can overthink a little bit. So we just made the game simple, picked up the defensive intensity and honestly, Israel Jenrette changed the game for us – crashing the glass, one shot and they were done. Him giving them one shot and dominating the glass in the second half defensively is really what helped us stretch the lead out.”

An alley-oop dunk by senior DJ Berry gave Valdosta its largest lead of the night at 26 points with 2:41 to play. Berry also threw down another alley-oop on a pass from Jabarri Williams that earned him a technical foul for doing a pull-up on the rim with 6:48 remaining as the crowd and the VHS bench buzzed in disbelief.

“It’s a big part of our game,” Lee said. “Like I tell the guys all the time, people come to the games to see a show. You want to execute, but you also want to give them some entertainment. Pushing the tempo has been our brand for the past couple of years – defensive intensity up front, turning people over and then pushing the tempo. That’s what we’re going to stick to. It’s our culture, it’s our brand and it’s really a big part in us winning ballgames so I think that really did help us a lot in the second half.”

Berry finished with 18 points to lead the ‘Cats The 6-4 combo forward affected the game with his energy and aggression attacking the basket throughout.

Known for his highlight-reel athleticism, Berry was active around the basket on both ends of the floor and was a primary beneficiary as the ‘Cats turned turnovers into points in transition.

“Toughness,” Lee said of what Berry brings to the game. “He’s that engine. He’s locked in mentally and defensively, most importantly, he really changes the game. He’s such a versatile player. He can play on the wing, play down low, finish over the top, so when he’s locked in mentally and pressing people defensively and also crashing the glass, him getting in transition really gets his game going. He’s our engine and he really came and showed up big for us in the second half.”

Valdosta led by as many as 13 points in the first half, but Colquitt responded with a 15-5 second quarter that saw the Packers capitalize on empty possessions and turnovers by the ‘Cats, who settled for jump shots in the first half without much success.

Going into the locker room clinging to a three-point lead, Valdosta made a conscientious effort to establish itself around the basket as junior David Albritton opened the second half with a tip-in, Williams drove hard to the basket to earn free throws, 6-10 junior Israel Jenrette rolled in a baby hook shot from the paint and Berry created havoc from the short corner along the baseline with a layup inside to push the lead to 29-19 with 4:41 left in the third quarter.

“Intensity on the glass,” Lee said. “It’s a totally different ballgame when you give people more than one opportunity to score. I think we were taking more efficient shots. We were attacking the rack a whole lot more in the second half, which was necessary because threes just weren’t falling in the first half. Once we got that momentum, that’s when shots started falling for us. We finished off strong.”

With the blowout win, Valdosta picked up its second victory of 2023 after dispatching Richmond Hill 56-35 on the road to open region play Jan. 6.

At 2-1 in Region 1-7A, Valdosta currently sits in second place behind Camden, who edged Lowndes 42-39 in Kingsland Saturday.

For Lee, even though his ‘Cats moved up to Region 1-7A this year, the goal for the team remains the same.

“We talk about it every day – we want to go back-to-back,” Lee said. “We won Region 1-6A last year. We want to come in and win Region 1-7A in this first year and also, our biggest goal is to make it to the Elite Eight. The past three years, we’ve been upset and not really reached that goal, so as a team, that’s our biggest thing. We want to continue to elevate the program. Our goal is to win the region but secondary, we want to get further than we’ve been in the last four years so Elite Eight is our major mission.”

Valdosta girls 58, Colquitt 51

The Valdosta Lady ‘Cats recovered from a sluggish first quarter to down Colquitt 58-51 in Saturday’s opener.

With the win, the Lady ‘Cats won their fifth consecutive game and improved to 3-0 in Region 1-7A.

“I think we had a little nerves going on in the first quarter, especially,” VHS coach E.A. Wilcox said. “The second quarter, we came out and we were a little more relaxed. We lost 12-4 the first quarter and after that, we kind of relaxed and started doing what we’re taught to do. Sometimes, when they get so tight, everything is all messed up but we finally settled down.”

Leading 55-48 with a minute to play, the Lady ‘Cats put the dagger in the Packers as junior Aniyah Bradfield missed a free throw but rebounded her miss and kicked it to senior guard Denver Arnold for a 3-pointer to make it a 10-point game with under 40 seconds to play.

Senior center Essence Cody, the No. 22-ranked player in ESPN’s HoopGurls Recruiting Rankings, led Valdosta with 25 points, 16 rebounds, seven blocks, four assists and four steals. Arnold added 14 points, but shot just 4 of 19 from the floor in the game while Bradfield hustled her way to a double-double with 11 points, 15 rebounds and two blocks in the win.

“We didn’t shoot the ball very well tonight. Denver is our best shooter and she didn’t shoot it really well tonight, but she was a great leader in everything else. She got steals, she got a couple rebounds – she did a very good job in those areas,” Wilcox said. “What I liked about her this time is that when she’s not scoring, she still gave maximum effort on the defensive end. We really appreciate that because we’ve been preaching that all year.”

Much of the first half, the Lady ‘Cats struggled to get the ball to Cody as the Packers used an aggressive, fronting defense and pressure from behind the 6-3 post player – making it difficult for her to catch the ball and finish inside.

In the second half, Wilcox made the adjustment of moving Bradfield and Cody to the high post interchangeably and using the high-low game to punish the smaller Packers inside.

“That’s my back pocket stuff,” Wilcox said with a grin. “Once I saw how they were defending us, I could draw up something to attack it. My shooters were off tonight, but Essence is always on. In the first half, she started kind of slow but in the second half, she picked it up.

“Aniyah is our spark plug. If Aniyah can hit that free throw (jump shot), (Essence) will never get double-teamed. Throw it to the high post, throw it inside to Essence – it’s a bucket, or when they back off Aniyah and she can hit that, knock it down. There’s a lot of ways we can attack you, even with that front and back double. Houston County did it to us last year and I said, ‘That’s the blueprint. I’ve got something to combat that.’”

Colquitt led 23-21 at halftime as Valdosta pulled within two on a floater from Arnold to beat the second quarter buzzer.

The Packers built their lead by knocking down 3-pointers and capitalizing on lackluster defensive rebounding by the Lady ‘Cats.

“I said some things at halftime that made them want to rebound in the second half and they responded,” Wilcox said. “They just want to win. If they want to win, we give them the blueprint to want to win and sometimes they respond and sometimes they don’t. The last five games, they’ve responded. Hopefully that continues with Camden on Friday and Lowndes on Saturday.”

Out of the halftime break, Valdosta went right at Colquitt as Cody scored on three consecutive possessions to start thee third quarter and Bradfield made two free throws for a speedy 8-0 run to jump ahead 29-23 to force a timeout.

A 16-foot jumper by Bradfield, followed by a short turnaround jumper inside by Cody put Valdosta ahead 33-25 midway through the third, but Colquitt responded with back-to-back triples from D’Zeriyah Polite and Jamya Moore to cut the lead to two – forcing a timeout from Wilcox with 2:15 left in the period.

“(Colquitt) made some big shots on the other side,” Wilcox said. “We got out of our coverages and we just lost our personnel and they made some good open shots and they made some contested shots.”

After a layup by Polite tied the game at 33, Valdosta once again leaned on their star.

Cody scored six straight points to push the lead to 39-33, but a free throw by Polite and another 3 by Moore had Valdosta going into the fourth leading 39-37.

In a strange turn of events, Colquitt mistakenly opened the fourth with four players on the court and earned a technical foul as junior Ameris Johnson realized she was the missing player and sprinted onto the court. Arnold sank both technical free throws and Cody went to work inside for a layup to pushed the lead to eight with 7:20 left in the game.

“Essence had a big night tonight. We scored 58 points and out of our 58 points, it felt like she had over half of them,” Wilcox said of his star. “When you’ve got guards that are shooting it from the outside, the lead goes up exponentially. It goes up a lot quicker, a lot faster but it was a grind. It was very physical game. Those girls played a physical game. They’re smaller, but they’re very physical but our girls managed. We kind of worked through it and some and-ones here and there and made some really good plays.”

Amareyia Knighton led the Packers with 13 points and six rebounds. Polite had 12 points and five steals, while Carliss Johnson knocked down four 3-pointers to finish with 12 points, six rebounds and six steals. Moore posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.

The Lady ‘Cats, who started the season 3-5 as Cody nursed an ankle injury in the middle of that stretch, host Camden Jan. 20 before meeting crosstown rival Lowndes for the first time Jan. 21.

“I’m glad we got the win,” A hoarse Wilcox said, leaning back in his office chair. “We’re 3-0 in the region. We’re officially in first place right now. We’re just trying to get better as we go.”