Lady Devils to face Wesleyan at Deep South Classic
Published 2:00 pm Monday, December 26, 2022
- O’ashia Cushion spots an open teammate near the basket during the 2nd half.
TIFTON — Tift County’s Lady Devils returned to the basketball court this week, traveling to Snellville for the Deep South Classic. The tournament takes place from Dec. 28-30 at Brookwood High School.
Eight teams are set to participate. Six are from Metro Atlanta, with Valdosta and Tift as the only distant invitees. Brookwood, Collins Hill, Duluth, Forest Park, Mount Paran and Wesleyan are also involved.
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According to the official bracket, teams are guaranteed three games, with 1st-7th places being awarded.
Tift (6-2) was to begin their tournament with Wesleyan (7-1) Dec. 28 at 3 p.m.
The Lady Wolves are perhaps the state’s best girls basketball tradition over the past 25 years, with 13 state championships and five more runner-up appearances. Wesleyan was knocked out of state in the first round last season, the first time since 2000 they had not won any tournament games.
Locals needn’t get their hopes up that Wesleyan is on its way out of prominence. They are off to a 7-1 start in 2022-23, having defeated Holy Innocents’ Greater Atlanta Christian and Lumpkin County. Their only loss has been to White County.
MaxPreps has Wesleyan ranked No. 17 in the state, regardless of classification.
Depending on result, the Lady Devils will face Duluth (5-3) or Brookwood (10-1) in the next round.
Tift has outscored opponents at a rate to 51-40 in their eight games, with a season high of 71 points against Sumter County.
Jimmya Cushion is averaging 14.5 points per game. She outscored Sumter, with 30 big points, done so in only three quarters. O’ashia Cushion averages 10.1 points per game, Jalaya Miller is at 7.1, Jakembre Beckhom at 5.5 and Jimelyah Cushion at 5.0.
Tift’s last game before the Deep South Tournament was Dec. 17, when they completed a season sweep of Valdosta.
After the tournament, Tift’s next game will be Jan. 6 at Veterans, opening the Region 1-6A campaign. Their next home game is Jan. 7 against Thomas County Central.
