TIFTON — Makala Horne gets all the thanks for Tift County basketball fans being able to see this week’s Region 1-6A semifinals and finals in their own home gym.

Semifinals are Thursday, with consolation games and championships Friday at The Palace.

Each day’s schedule starts at 4 p.m. Thursday, the Veterans Lady Warhawks are the opener against Thomas County Central. At about 5:30 p.m., Houston County’s boys take on Veterans.

Locals take the floor, starting around 7 p.m. Tift’s Lady Devils play Houston, followed by the Blue Devils and Lee County boys.

Winners of the semifinal games will play in Friday’s region championships. Losers play in the consolation games. All of the teams involved will play in state tournament games next week.

This year’s region tournament host is the No. 1 girls team in the region, which happens to be Tift. The Lady Devils tied with Veterans at the top of the standings, each 9-1. However, the tiebreaker was who had the bigger margin of victory.

Tift won at home by 11 points and Veterans was leading the Lady Devils by 11 late in the contest in Kathleen. Horne came through with a basket. Tift only fell by nine points, ensuring the tournament is on home hardwood.

The TCC and Houston girls and Tift and Houston boys all qualified for state Tuesday in play-in games.

Houston’s Lady Bears won over Lee, 38-35; TCC won a wild 65-61 game against Northside in the other girls game. For the boys, Tift kept its 30-year state streak going with a 62-56 victory over the Yellow Jackets and Veterans defeated Northside, 93-71.