Felton’s career night leads ‘Cats to region title game

Published 5:00 pm Thursday, February 16, 2023

VALDOSTA – In their first season in Region 1-7A, the Valdosta Wildcats will play rival Lowndes for the region championship Friday.

The ‘Cats (15-9, 6-2 Region) punched their ticket to the title game with a 61-50 win over the Colquitt County Packers (4-18, 3-6) Wednesday night.

Senior guard Ajaye Felton, son of Valdosta head football coach Shelton Felton, delivered his best game as a Wildcat – recording a double-double with a career-high 17 points, 11 rebounds and a block.

Felton hardly missed all night. In fact, he shot 8 of 9 from the floor and made his only 3-point shot attempt in the game. He helped to put the finishing touches on Valdosta’s semifinal win with a pull-up jumper with 58 seconds to play to put his team up 59-50.

Junior big man Israel Jenrette scored the team’s final basket of the night for the final margin.

Jenrette nearly had a double-double of his own with eight points and 10 rebounds along with four blocked shots – providing imposing interior defense and a big target around the rim on offense at 6-10.

A pull-up jumper from the elbow by sophomore Jabarri Williams gave the ‘Cats their largest lead of 13 points with 4:53 left in the third quarter.

The Packers cut the lead to single digits late in the third as junior Chris Williams knocked down a long two-pointer and a three before going coast-to-coast to beat the buzzer to the end the quarter trailing 47-40.

The Packers cut deeper into the lead to start the fourth as a layup and an off-balance runner off the glass by Naryan Sumlin whittled the Valdosta lead to 47-44, forcing a timeout by VHS head coach James Lee with 5:09 left in the game.

Out of the timeout, the ‘Cats scored on back-to-back baskets as Percy Chastang attacked the basket for a nifty finish around the rim, followed by an offensive rebound and putback by Williams to push the lead back to seven. The Packers would only get as close as five points the rest of the way.

Flanking Felton, Williams was the only other Wildcat to hit double-digits with 12 points on 4 of 7 shooting in the win. Senior guard James Siplen shot just 3 of 8, but was instrumental in the outcome with six points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Tipoff for Friday’s region championship game against Lowndes is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Lady ‘Cats 65, Richmond Hill 37 (Tuesday)

The Valdosta High Lady Wildcats (17-9, 7-1) punched their ticket to the Region 1-7A Championship game with a 65-37 blowout of the Richmond Hill Wildcats (15-10, 3-5) Tuesday night.

Leading 36-24 at halftime, Valdosta seized full control of the game in the third quarter.

A 3-pointer by Gardner and a layup by sophomore Makiyah Brewton spurred a 22-8 third quarter highlighted by a flurry of threes from Gardner and Cody.

Cody’s triple and senior guard Denver Arnold going 2 of 3 at the free throw line effectively iced the game as Valdosta led 58-30 heading to the fourth quarter.

With head coach E.A. Wilcox going deep into his bench to give some of his little-used reserves playing time, a feel good moment came in the form of senior forward Allison Harden getting an offensive rebound and scoring her first basket of the season. The Valdosta bench and the home crowd erupted as Harden shortly subbed out of the game.

McDonald’s All-American Essence Cody flirted with a rare quadruple-double with 20 points, 11 rebounds, nine blocks, seven assists and four steals to lead the Lady ‘Cats while junior guard Nadia Gardner poured in a career-high 17 points on 7 of 13 shooting in the win.

Arnold struggled shooting the ball as she went 3 of 14 from the floor, but scored nine points along with six steals and five assists. Brewton added eight points, five rebounds and two steals in the win.

Junior Makiyah Matthews accounted for nearly half of the Richmond Hill offense with 15 points in the loss.

With the win, the Lady ‘Cats will face their crosstown rivals, the Lowndes Vikettes in Thursday’s region title game at 7 p.m.

This game was completed after press time and will be recapped in the weekend edition of the Valdosta Daily Times.