BRUNSWICK – Hoopin’ at the High certainly ended on a high note for the Tift County Lady Devils Saturday, Dec. 23. On Christmas Eve’s eve Jimmya Cushion beat a double team for a last-second shot to defeat North Paulding, 48-46.
North Paulding hit 2-of-4 from the stripe, the last at 2:08 to break a 44-44 tie. Tift squared it seconds later when Faith Hillmon grabbed a rebound and passed it ahead to Cushion. Spotting Makala Horne breaking free, Cushion threw a perfect strike and Horne made the lay-up.
Both teams had their chances over the next 90 seconds, North Paulding’s runner bouncing off the rim to Jalaya Miller with 12 seconds left. Caitlyn Burgess brought the ball up the floor and gave it to Burgess near the the Lady Devils bench.
Cushion bounced around the three-point line, beat one defender and threw up a prayer over the outstretched arms of two more North Paulding players. It went in and Tift County had an early Christmas present one day after they dropped their first game of the season to Bradwell Institute on a similar last-second shot.
The Lady Devils were down 15-12 after one quarter, but up 26-21 at halftime. Burgess and Miller scored all the 2nd quarter points. A 5-0 run to close the 3rd opened the lead a tad more, to 39-33.
Miller’s 15 points led the team, with Burgess contributing 14 and Cushion at 12. Hillmon and Horne were the only other players to score for Tift.
After their visit from Santa Claus, the Lady Devils go back on the road for a tournament at Buford.