Cordele — Crisp County High junior guard Deletria Colson had hit clutch baskets before in her career but none likely bigger than the one she drained in a Tuesday night game vs. Westover.

With her team trailing 32-31 and time rapidly vanishing, Colson let fly with a shot deep off the left wing and when it went into the hoop with six seconds left to play it gave the Lady Cougars a thrilling 33-32 triumph.

Unfortunately for the Cougars, though, the field goal they hit with 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter resulted not in a nail-biting win but a 77-69 loss-prolonging, gut-wrenching overtime loss to the Patriots.

With the split, Crisp’s records were altered to 11-7 overall, 8-4 in Region 1-AAAA (girls) and 7-13, 6-6 heading into their only weekend start that comes on the road Friday at Cairo.

Lady Cougars 33, Lady Pats 32

A 63-55 winner in an offensive battle the two teams had when they met Dec. 11 in Albany, the Lady Cougars basically achieved their sweep of the Lady Patriots with a stout defensive performance.

“Holding a good team like Westover to two points in the first quarter and to just 32 points all night says a lot about the kind of defense we played,” beaming Crisp coach Barrett Wilkes said afterwards.

“With our girls doing a good job of talking and communicating with each other, our defense rotations were great and that was definitely a huge key to what should serve as a big lift for us.

“Offensively, we’re still trying to figure out the best approach for us (since the departure of leading scorer/rebounder Nasheema Oliver). Tonight, we were at least opportunistic as when we got a good look at the basket we hit it like Deletria did there at the end.”

Crisp’s 15-10 third period advantage sparked by Dee Dee Williams’ seven-point production was another key to victory as was the way Alexis Felton (who led the scoring with eight points) and Jalexia Fenn stepped up their play when the Lady Cougars got into early foul trouble.

Westover’s AuBreAna Moore led all scorers with 11 points.

Score by Quarters

Westover High 2-11-10-9 — 32

Crisp County 7-4-15-7 — 33

Scoring

Westover (32) — MyKesa Smith 2, Achanti Layfield 2, AuBreAna Moore 11, Denae Cheatham 2, Alicia Samuels 4, Shanteria Williams 6, Tiana Campbell 5.

Team totals: field goals 12; free throws 7 of 15 (46.7%); fouls 19; 3-pointers — Campbell 1; fouled out — none.

Crisp County (33) — Nisha Waters 6, Dee Dee Williams 7, Deletria Colson 5, Kayla Green 7, Alexis Felton 8, Daja Chambliss, Niqueria Jones, Miah Burks, Jalexia Fenn.

Team totals: field goals 10; free throws 11 of 19 57.9%); fouls 16; 3-pointers — Waters 1, Green 1; fouled out — none.

Patriots 77, Cougars 69

Coming off their worst loss in years three nights earlier when Monroe’s Tornadoes blew past them 70-38, the Cougars came oh so close to avenging a previous 71-62 loss to the high-flying Patriots.

The third quarter that has been so troublesome for them in the past again was a huge factor in this loss as T.J. Cromer’s 10-point salvo keyed the visitors’ 20-8 edge in that stanza. Westover’s 27-24 halftime deficit thus turned into a 44-37 lead.

Crisp then made a rally of its own, outscoring its guest 26-17 to snarl the contest at 61 and necessitate an overtime period during which it didn’t have the firepower to match the Patriots’ explosiveness.

Cromer and Kel Miller gave Westover a double-barreled attack, with the former nailing 30 points and the latter 22 as the Patriots beat the Cougars up and down the court in the transition game.

“The basket must have looked as big as big as the ocean to T.J., a great player who’s going to do just fine at the next level,” Cougars mentor Terry Smith said in lauding the Westover star.

“We may have lost this one to him and his teammates, but from the performance I saw from our kids I think we grew up and got better in several phases,”

“I was really pleased with the effort we put forth. If we continue to do that in these last few regular season games and the tournaments, I think we’ll do just fine at region and at state if we’re fortunate to get that far.”

With his 25-point output that included six of the season-high 10 treys the Cougars drained in the game, Javoris Cooks emerged as the leading scorer.

Crisp also got a solid effort from former B-teamer Condell Woodson who tossed in a trio of 3-pointers on his way to an 11-point evening. “Condell did a super job in his first real playing time at the varsity level,” Smith said.



 Score by Quarters

Westover High 10-14-20-17-16 — 77

Crisp County 13-14-8-26-8 — 69

Scoring

Westover (77) — T.J. Cromer 30, Kel Miller 22, Mike Green 7, Kyle Baker 7, C.J. Davis 6, Danavon  Robinson 2, M.J. Vanguere 2, Andre Kennedy 1.

Team totals: field goals 27; free throws 17 of 23 (73.8%); fouls 1-; 3-pointers — Cromer 3, Miller 2, Green 1; fouled out — none.

Crisp County (69) — Javoris Cooks 25, Condell Woodson 11, Davion Harvey 9, Landon Whitman 8, Shaquille West 6, Taylor Walls 6, Primetime Hamilton 2, Kerrion Harris 2, Montre’ Hartage, Eddie Morgan, Clement Burnam, Rashad Buckholts, Montel Richard.

Team totals: field goals 26; free throws 7 of 9 (77.8%); fouls 17; 3-pointers — Cooks 6, Woodson 3, Walls 1; fouled out — Whitman.