By John Simpson

Reporter

The Bainbridge Lady Bearcats lost a close game last week against the Colquitt County Packers. The teams were only separated by one point. The final score was 28-29 in favor of the Packers.

When the teams met earlier in the season, offense dominated the game. Colquitt won the first game with a score of 58-54. This game proved to be a defensive bout that the Lady Bearcats just couldn’t finish.

“It was a good defensive game by both teams,” said Coach Kelvin Cochran, “We’re pretty familiar with them and they’re pretty familiar with us.”

Bainbridge kept Colquitt scoreless in the first quarter and held them to only nine points on the half. The Lady Packers didn’t let Bainbridge have an easy first half either though. The Lady Bearcats only managed to put up 13 points over the two quarters.

The second half saw a continuation of the defensive efforts the teams put out in the first half, which set the game up for a close finish.

The game was even at 24 in the fourth quarter when Kiarra King sank an and-one basket, however she missed the free throw for the opportunity for a three point play. Bainbridge was now leading 26-24 with less than a minute on the clock.

Colquitt brought the ball down the court and banked in a three-point shot that put the score to 26-27.

With the game on the line, Coach Cochran called Nadia Marshall’s number for the last shot. Marshall drove the lane and missed the shot. She grabbed her own rebound and put it in to give Bainbridge a one-point lead in the 28-27 score line with six seconds to go on the clock.

Colquitt inbounded the ball and dribbled the ball down the court. The refs called a foul on Bainbridge, which gave Colquitt free throws to win the game forcing overtime.

“It was a close, hard fought game,” said Coach Cochran. “It was a disappointing loss, we really wanted this win against them but they’re a well coached team. We had some opportunities down the stretch that we didn’t capitalize on.”

Nadia Marshall led all scorers in the game with 19 points. She also had picked up 6 rebounds.

Coach Cochran thinks this game is a learning opportunity for his younger players, and that they can grow from this experience before region play beings. He hopes they’ll be able to remember this game and pull out close games in the future.

Their next game is at the Colquitt County Christmas Tournament Dec. 26-28