CHULA — Tiftarea Academy’s Panthers kept their record undefeated Thursday at the Chuladome, outlasting Southwest Georgia Academy, 50-39. The result earned them a split as the powerful Lady Warriors won over Tiftarea, 55-23.

Tiftarea’s boys are now 3-0 for the season, its best start since beginning the 2013-14 season with four consecutive wins.

Though the record was perfect, the first quarter wasn’t for the Panthers. SGA scored the first six points of the night and every shot Tiftarea took refused to find the inside of the cylinder.

Andrew Connell finally scored for Tiftarea three minutes into the contest and slowly, shots began falling. A rare four-point play from Elijah Smith tied it 10-10 with 16 seconds remaining in the first.

Thad Beckley’s free throws with two seconds remaining put the Warriors back ahead at 12-10. That would be their last lead of the game.

Whit Jordan knocked down a three-pointer to open the second frame off an assist from Ben Smith. Forty seconds later, Ben Smith spotted Connell at the top of the key for another three. The run grew to 9-0 and a 19-12 advantage as the Smith brothers each scored.

Southwest Georgia Academy were quiet for five minutes before finally managing to close to 19-16 on a shot by Grayson Cox at 2:38. Tiftarea pulled away, going up 26-18 at the break on an Elijah Smith drive to the basket.

Elijah Smith knocked down a three-ball early in the third, but the Panthers only managed eight points in the quarter. Fortunately, it was a fantastic eight minutes on defense for them, featuring at least seven blocks. Jordan had four of them and Temond Marcus, fresh off signing with Hampton University for football, added another three.

Cox had a free throw at 1:26 to get as close as two points at 31-29, but the Warriors could do no more. Elijah Smith banked in a three-pointer at 1:03 and Tiftarea went into the fourth quarter up 34-29.

Five more points, coming from Ben Smith and Jordan widened the lead to 10 (39-29) at 4:52 in the fourth. An exhausted SGA found every shot contested. Even what should have been a layup had Caden Grier play perfectly to prevent the score.

Ben Smith’s three was the only field goal for the Panthers in the final frame, but a 13-for-15 performance at the free throw stripe — including nine straight to end it — meant SGA could not make any headway.

Elijah Smith scored 20 points to pace Tiftarea, with Connell at 10 points. Jordan had nine points, and coaches Rob Flick and Tay Mallory confirmed he had six blocked shots. Cox had 19 points for SGA with Colt Williams at 11.

LADY WARRIORS 55, TIFTAREA 23

Mallory, who recently stepped in as the Lady Panthers’ leader, had had a tough task Thursday. Not only is Southwest Georgia undefeated (now 5-0), he also has a short and inexperienced bench.

That means that Tiftarea’s starters — Kate Phillips, Kate Coogle, Lexi Connell, Madi Shoultz and Maci Shoultz — played nearly every minute. Mallory said they would be the most in shape team in the area by season’s end.

Even with the challenges, the Lady Panthers played tough throughout, even taking a couple of leads.

Setting a player in the middle and letting others flash to the hoop, Phillips put them up at 2-0 and Connell made a jump shot to make it 4-3.

SGA soon took command, however, doubling up their hosts at 14-7 at 2:12 on a free throw by K.J. Spann. Makenna Grace Graham made a three-pointer off an inbounds pass and Tiftarea was down 14-10 at quarter’s end.

Lady Warriors came out firing in the second quarter, using a press to pull away at 28-10. Though too far for Tiftarea to catch up, they held the visitors without any points for the last fo8r minutes. Lexi Connell had a block in that span and made four at the stripe to trail 34-16 at halftime.

SGA turned on the defense in the third, but Tiftarea avoided the mercy rule when Kate Coogle drove the baseline for a basket.

The Lady Panthers scored the first five in the fourth, including a turnaround jumper from Coogle and a steal and layup from Maci Shoultz.

Coogle led the Lady Panthers with seven points. Connell scored 6.

Tiftarea was to host Georgia Christian Friday.