TIFTON — One week into 2017, local teams have settled back into the grind of basketball season and the schedule is picking up considerably.

Tift County’s Blue Devils will host Colquitt County Friday and go on the road to face Camden County Saturday.

Tiftarea Academy hosts Valwood Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.before playing at Terrell Academy Thursday and at Southland Academy Friday.

Both Colquitt teams started hot.

The Lady Packers won their first nine before a defeat by Southwest DeKalb at the Peach State Shoot-Out. Since then, they have fallen to Westlake and Valdosta before recovering with wins over Monroe and Worth County, the latter by a 56-19 score.

Junior Za’Nautica Downs has been averaging more than 20 points per game for Colquitt.

Colquitt’s boys have nearly matched Tift in wins in 2016-17 at 13-2 following Friday’s win over Worth County. Tifton has not been its favorite place to play, however, as both losses have come there. At the McDonald’s Invitational in December, the Packers lost on consecutive days to McEachern and Duluth.

Colquitt will play at Lee Tuesday before coming to Tift.

Camden’s Lady Wildcats will contribute to a stacked Region 1, courtesy of a 12-3 record, pending a Saturday night contest against a Jacksonville, Florida, school. Camden will host Liberty County and Lowndes next week prior to Tift’s invasion.

Wins for the Lady ‘Cats include two over Brunswick, one by 58-30. The Lady Devils defeated Brunswick in overtime at home in December.

While Camden’s girls have played well, the boys have struggled to a 1-10 record through Friday. Its only win came over Benedictine Dec. 29.

Valwood’s Lady Valiants, playing under first-year head coach Stephanie Johnson, won the Georgia Christian Christmas tournament by defeating the hosts in the finals. They have also recorded wins over Highland Christian, though they fell to Westwood, 68-27, to end 2016.

The Valiants of former Tiftarea coach, Andy Stamschror are 8-1 after defeating Frederica Academy Friday night by 17 points. That avenged an earlier loss to Frederica.

Tiftarea’s Lady Panthers defeated Terrell Dec. 1 at home by 15 points. Since then, the Lady Eagles have fallen to Westwood, Southland and Crisp Academy.

Terrell’s boys continue their scoring sprees, putting up 87 against Westwood. They took a big lead early in its December win over Tiftarea.

Tiftarea’s boys will try to get back on a winning note after dropping Thursday’s game at Crisp Academy. The hard-luck Panthers have not won since Dec. 12 against Georgia Christian.

The season has gone much better for Tiftarea’s girls, who lost but a single game in 2016. Expected to be back at full force, they face a Valwood team they defeated three times last year.