No. 10 Dougherty defeats Bainbridge for Region 1-AAAA girls basketball title

ALBANY — The No. 10-ranked Dougherty Lady Trojans came from behind in the second half Tuesday night to defeat the Bainbridge Lady Bearcats 37-25 to claim the Region 1-AAAA girls basketball championship in front of a full house at Dougherty High School.

Senior point guard Kaylin Thompson scored on the first possession of the night but for the rest of the first half, the Lady Trojans had great difficulty in scoring and managed only nine first-half points. Fortunately, Bainbridge had trouble scoring as well, and the Lady Trojans only trailed 15-9.

Early in the third quarter, Bainbridge senior post player Detavia Salter was whistled for her fourth foul of the game and went to the bench. In that quarter, the Lady Trojans outscored Bainbridge 14-2 and took control of the game. Salter reentered the game in the fourth quarter, but soon fouled out and was unable to get her team back into the game.

Bainbridge attempted a full-court press and trapping defense that led to multiple fouls. Those fouls gave the Lady Trojans 10 free throw attempts in that final quarter and they sank eight of them to keep the Bearcats from coming back.

Thompson led the scoring for the Lady Trojans with 14 points and freshman Jatiana Chambers followed with 12.

“First of all I have to say all the glory goes to God,” said Dougherty head coach Khadijah Ali. “He has covered us and protected us this entire season. Secondly, none of this is possible without my awesome and amazing coaching staff. I can’t thank them enough. Lastly, this is a very special group of young ladies and I am very proud of them. They believed and they made believers out of everyone. This is my first region championship as a head coach and I can’t imagine sharing it with any other group of young ladies. I am one proud coach.”

The win improves the season record to 17-7 and gives the Lady Trojans a No. 1 seed heading into the state playoffs, which means they will open state on their home court.

Monroe was not as fortunate as the Lady Tornadoes fell to Thomas County Central 54-52 in overtime. It looked like the Lady Jackets of Thomas Central had the game in hand, leading 48-43 with a minute remaining to play, but senior Kyla Raven swished a 3-pointer from the top of the key and then Aaliyah Robinson tied the game with a basket underneath the basket. Robinson then swatted away the Lady Jackets’ last-second shot to win in regulation.

Neither team could do much offensively in the four-minute overtime, but Thomas County Central got the benefit of some foul calls and sophomore Tia Floyd hit a free throw with 17 seconds left to break the 52-52 tie and she hit another one with four seconds remaining to secure the victory for the Lady Jackets.

Robinson led Monroe with 20 points while Raven, Ciarra Lunsford and Jkya Hatcher each scored eight.

The loss moves the Lady Tornadoes in the fourth seed heading into the state playoffs which means they will face stronger competition and will not play at home.

Joe WhitfieldJoe Whitfield