Albany — Crisp County High continued to travel in opposite directions against another of their Region 1-AAAA basketball foes Tuesday night.

Whereas coach Barrett Wilkes’ Lady Cougars bettered their mark to 4-1 in league play with a 63-55 triumph over Westover’s Lady Patriots, coach Terry Smith’s boys dipped to 2-3 via a 72-62 setback.

Now 5-1 (girls) and 2-4 overall, the Crisp teams will hit the hardwood twice this weekend as they’ll host Turner County on Friday at 6 and go to Tift County on Saturday at 7.

Crisp 63, Westover 55 (girls)

After seeing their 17-11 first period lead turn into a 28-27 halftime deficit when their guards got into early foul trouble, the Lady Cougars put the defensive clamps on Westover. Outscored 13-3 in the third quarter, the host girls saw their deficit grow to 40-31— a lead Crisp would protect down the stretch.

“We started out on fire but when our starting guards had to go to the bench due to foul problems, we didn’t handle pressure as well as we should have and let them go ahead at the half,” Wilkes said.

“Our defense wound up being the real story, though, as when we switched zones in an effort to stop their picks down low and force them to shoot from outside it worked almost to perfection.”

Another key was Kayla Green scoring nine of her 11 points in the final stanza, a production that enabled Crisp to offset Westover’s late-game run that brought it to within three.

At that point, the Lady Cougars broke the Lady Patriots’ press, scored, got a defensive stop and then scored again to win going away.

“We got a tremendous team effort as our starting five played the game we’d been practicing to use against Westover,” Wilkes said. “And to have four girls get into double figures as we did was just great.”

Nasheema Oliver turned in a double-double for the winners, bagging 21 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Dee Dee Williams and Deletria Colson had season highs of 14 and 11 points, respectively. Green added another 11 points and six assists to the cause. Mykesa Smith had 18 in defeat.

Score by Quarters

Crisp County 17-10-13-23 — 63

Westover 11-17-3-24 — 55

Scoring

   Crisp County (63) — Nisha Waters 6, Dee Dee Williams 14, Deletria Colson 11, Kayla Green 11, Nasheema Oliver 21, Alexis Felton. Dajia Chambliss, Niqueria Jones, Miah Burks.

   Team totals: field goals 22; free throws 17 of 19 (89.5%); fouls 18; 3-pointers — Colson 2; fouled out — none.

   Westover (55) — Mykesha Smith 18, Achanti Layfield 11, AiBre’ana Moore 5, Denae Cheatham 6, Alicia Samuals 1, Bryshea Jackson 8, Chanteria Williams 4, Tiana Campbell 2.

   Team totals: field goals 21; free throws 10 of 26 (38.5%); fouls 17; 3-pointers — Smith 2, Laufield 1; fouled out — none.

Patriots 72, Cougars 62

For three quarters, the Cougars more than held their own against the Patriots. Davion Harvey’s 13-point first-period effort kept them within two, 21-19, entering the second stanza which ended with Crisp on top 37-31. It was still ahead 51-47 entering the final turn.

That advantage vanished into thin area in the final three minutes of play, however, as Westover’s press forced the Cougars into the majority of their 13 turnovers for the evening. They converted most of them into points and an ultimate win.

“We had a great first half before things began to turn against us midway the third quarter when they went to a half-court trap,” Smith said afterwards.

“We got sloppy with the ball in the last three minutes of the game and did things we normally don’t do and they made us pay for it.”

Harvey finished with 18 points and saw teammates Javoris Cooks and Primetime Hamilton join him in double digits with 11 and 10, respectively. The Patriots also had a trio of twin column pointmakers in C.J. Davis, 23, P.J. Cromer, 16, and Kel Miller, 13.  

Score by Quarters

Crisp County 19-18-14-11 — 62

Westover 21-10-16-24 — 72

Scoring

   Crisp County (62) — Davion Harvey 18, Javoris Cooks 11, Primetime Hamilton 10, Kerrion Harris 8, Shaquille West 6, Taylor Walls 5, Rashad Buckholts 4, Eddie Morgan, Clement Burnam, A.J. Mobley, Montel Richard.

   Team totals: field goals 25; free throws 7 of 12 (58.3%); fouls 19; 3-pointers — Cooks 3, Harvey 2; fouled out — none.

   Westover (72) — C.J. Davis 23, T.J. Cromer 16, Kel Miller 13, Kyle Baker 8, Andre’ Kennedy 6, Donovan Robinson 4, Khalil Carson 2.

   Team totals: field goals 27; free throws 13 of 17 (76.5%); fouls 14; 3-pointers — Miller 3, Cromer 2; fouled out — none.