KATHLEEN — One winning streak came to an end Tuesday night for Tift County, but another is just getting started. The Blue Devils won their second in a row, and their second Region 1-6A contest, 69-65 over Veterans. The Lady Devils, ranked in two polls, saw their 10 consecutive wins stopped by Veterans, 62-53.
“This was our most complete game of the season so far,” said Tift head coach Tommy Blackshear in a text about the Devils’ 11th win of the year.
Like nearly every win for the boys in 2023-24, it did not come easily. Blackshear said Tift was up 17 points with 1:22 to go, then tough shots by Veterans and his own squad’s turnovers made it more interesting.
Tift is now 11-10 for the year, 2-5 in the region.
Jalaya Miller scored 17 for Tift and Jimmya Cushion netted 15, but the Lady Devils were in a big hole early on, trailing 35-20 at halftime and 55-34 following three quarters of play.
Fingers crossed for Lady Devils fans, they still have an excellent chance of hosting the Region 1-6A tournament.
Tift and Veterans are tied in the region standings. As long as Tift wins the rest of their conference games, head coach Julie Conner-Johnson said they should still host the tournament.
Remaining on the Lady Devils’ slate are Northside, Lee County and Houston County. Veterans still has Thomas County Central, Northside and Lee.
In other good news for the locals, Caitlyn Burgess’ 1,000th point is in reach. Burgess scored seven against Veterans, bringing her total to 984.