CHULA — With one week to go in the regular season, the Tiftarea Academy Panthers pretty much know where they stand for the postseason. Now, head coach Rob Flick needs his group to finish strong.

The Panthers clinched third for District 3-3A Friday by outlasting Valwood, 60-56. Tiftarea is 3-3 with two games to go, Senior Night Tuesday against Deerfield-Windsor and Friday at Brookwood. Both teams are ahead of them in the standings and cannot be caught. Conversely, the Panthers can’t be caught either, with Valwood and Terrell Academy trailing them.

Friday was a sweep for Tiftarea, with the Lady Panthers turning in a commanding 50-23 victory over Valwood. Tay Mallory’s group is in fourth, with a chance to perhaps move up. Third-place Deerfield is 2-3 to their 2-4. The Lady Knights won the first round 43-35.

Before any region games, the Panthers play Sherwood Christian at home on Monday.

Flick said it was a “team effort defensively” in beating the Valiants for the second time this year. Ben Smith scored 21 and Elijah Smith scored 20 — the former playing his best game of the year in Flick’s eyes — but they still needed a miss in the last few seconds to hang on.

At 5:09 in the third quarter, Elijah Smith had a three-point play to give Tiftarea a 42-23 lead. Two Valwood treys put a bit of a dent in that, but it was 49-37 headed to the fourth.

Leads are rarely safe between the two, and this one certainly was not.

Threes by Chase Helfer, Jack Morris and Saf Ross were part of a 12-2 run over 3:35, and now the Valiants only trailed 53-51 with 2:45 remaining.

Elijah Smith knocked down a jumper at 2:25, but the visitors weren’t just hot from beyond the arc, Reid McPherson was dominating the paint, too. McPherson dropped in two free throws at 2:15 and times looked tough a few seconds later when J.R. Walker, one of several tasked with trying to contain him, fouled out.

Neither free shot found the range, but at 1:25, Ross nailed a three-pointer and the Valiants went on top, 56-55. Tiftarea missed at the other end, but Valwood did, too.

Ben Smith took the ball from the other free throw line and drove into the paint on his end. Valwood collapsed on him, and Smith dished to a wide open Fletcher Walker, who muscled the ball in with 27 seconds to go. Walker was fouled on the play, but his free throw refused to ball. McPherson rebounded and Valwood had the opportunity for a last shot.

The Valiants missed from close range, Ben Smith claiming the board. Valwood fouled him, then twice more to reach the limit. Ben Smith made both at the stripe with 13 seconds left for a 59-56 lead.

Valwood had a man open for a game-tying three, but it didn’t find the range. Whit Jordan rebounded, then made the second of two free throws to ice the game.

At Hahira in their first meeting, Elijah Smith lit up Valwood for 33 points. Friday, there looked to be another massive individual scoring night, but not by any of the Panthers.

Cort Kurrie was Mr. Electric in the first period. Valwood scored 17 points, 15 courtesy Kurrie. Two shots were from behind the arc, another was a runner and he even had a turnaround jumper.

Kurrie finished at 17 points total, meaning Tiftarea allowed only two from him over the other 24 minutes. What changed? Flick said they played better defense.

“They have 2-3 guys who can light it up,” Flick said.

Kurrie’s 15th point was on a three at 2:23 that put Valwood up 17-9. The Panthers scored the final six to trail 17-15 at quarter’s end.

That number change also came with a literal number change.

Late in the period, Ben Smith took an accidental elbow to the face, bloodying his uniform. Players are not allowed to compete in bloody jerseys, and he scurried to the lockers to find a clean one, switching his usual No. 5 to No. 22. Seventeen of Smith’s points came in the new number.

“Ben looked like himself tonight,” Flick said.

Parker Pope began the second with a three for an 18-17 Tiftarea lead. McPherson got his team back up at 19-18, but the rest of the half was all Panthers. They outscored the Valiants 19-4 in the frame, with the only other points coming on technical foul free throws. The Smith brothers had back-to-back-to-back threes to close out the scoring.

The Smiths led Tiftarea. Valwood got 17 from Kurrie and 12 from McPherson.

LADY PANTHERS 50, VALWOOD 23

Tiftarea got some extra help to the lineup with some extra depth. Maci Shoultz returned to the lineup, which meant Mallory could do something that’s been a rarity this year: sub in the first half. Both Shoultz and Peyton Cleghorn helped the starters get in a bit of extra rest.

The Lady Panthers went up 6-0 over the first four minutes, 10-6 after eight minutes.

Ninety seconds into the second, Valwood was still hanging around at 11-8. It ended there. Lexi Connell and Kate Phillips hit baskets in a 20-second span and with the help of a Makenna Grace Graham trey, they had a 14-1 run. Connell was especially hot with six in the second quarter.

In the third, the hot hand was Madi Shoultz’s. She scored nine of the Lady Panthers’ 15. Graham free throws off a steal with 31 seconds left meant they had a 40-18 advantage going into the fourth.

Graham began the fourth with another takeaway and her teammates played passing lanes to perfection. Connell had two more jumpers before Tiftarea emptied the bench completely.

Connell was the only Lady Panther in double-digits in scoring. She had 14. Madi Shoultz scored 9.