4th quarter surges give Tift Senior Night sweep

Published 11:50 am Saturday, February 11, 2023

TIFTON — Senior Night came and a very successful 2022-23 basketball regular season concluded Friday, Feb. 10 at Tift County High School with a double victory over Houston County. The Lady Devils won their 20th contest of the year, 61-15, and it was another comeback win for the Blue Devils (19-5) at 47-38.

Houston County might petition the GHSA to force Tift to only play three quarters as their teams were outscored 41-4 . The Devils won because of the 15-2 4th. The Lady Devils were firmly in the lead in their game, but the 4th was particularly nasty, 26-2.

Next up is the Region 1-6A tournament at Lee County. Action starts early in the week but Tift, guaranteed of boys and girls state tournament bids, won’t have to play until the semifinals Thursday, Feb. 17. Regardless of how they do, they will also be in the finals or consolation games Feb. 18.

Both Tift teams will be the No. 2 seed at region.

“Down by nine, win by nine,” said head coach Tommy Blackshear after the game. Houston was up 33-24 at 3:01 in the 3rd when the Blue Devils started their comeback.

Most of the deficit was wiped out by the end of the 3rd, starting with a jumper by Kobe Farrie. Christian Jones flipped a pass around the arc to Ty’Quan Mills for a 3-pointer at 2:15 and fans began feeling the comeback.

Free throws by Farrie and Will Clark whittled it down to 33-32, but Zach Hanson hit a 3-pointer for the Bears to end the period. It was Houston’s last gasp, however, as back-to-back shots by McKyler Horne opened the 4th and tied the game at 36.

Farrie hit a 3-pointer on an assist from Tyler Parker at 5:56 for a 39-36 lead and the Bears could not respond. Tift built the lead to 43-36 over the next four minutes, then Houston finally got itself to the free throw line. Kameron Plummer made made both shots for a five-point game.

Parker cut the attempted comeback off before it went any further, scoring on an inbounds pass at 1:46. Two free shots by Will Clark iced the game.

The 4th period reminded Blackshear of six days earlier, when Tift outscored Lee County 17-3 over the last eight minutes, coming back from a six-point deficit to win 35-24.

“That was a good win,” he said. “They had us by the neck, they were on fire the 1st half.”

Houston had control of most of the 1st half, shooting at a red hot rate.

A jumper by Malachi Jackson put the Bears ahead 11-9 at the end of the 1st, a lead that grew to 14-24 midway through the 2nd on a Hanson triple. Parker and Henry Gebhart led a 6-3 rally that closed out the half.

Parker closed Houston’s lead to 27-24 three minutes into the 3rd, but the Bears took off again. Hanson put them ahead 33-24, a lead that would not last.

“We just stepped it up,” Blackshear said. He said their major halftime adjustment was body language. Hyped up by the Senior Night crowd, Blackshear said they did not play to their capabilities over the first two quarters. “We were spoiled,” he said.

“They settled down,” he said, pointing out the Devils held Houston to 11 total points. The Bears only hit three shots from the field over the final 16 minutes.

Farrie and Parker each scored 10 points to lead Tift, now 19-5 for the year. Clark added 7 points.

Hanson scored 12 ponts for the Bears. Plummer, at 6 points, was their second leading scorer.

LADY DEVILS 61, HOUSTON 15

There was only a moment that Houston was in the game — Tift was up 9-6 after a period — but the Lady Devils did not truly take off until the 3rd.

A 30-2 run ended the game for Tift, which did not start in a way that anyone wanted.

Jimmya Cushion was on a breakaway to the basket in the last minute of the stanza when she was fouled on a shot attempt. Cushion went spinning into the padding behind the goal, hitting headfirst with a loud thunk. Officials ruled the foul to be flagrant.

Teammates, coaches, trainers and family members gathered around Cushion, who was able to get to her feet a couple of minutes later. She stayed in to shoot the free throws, but was removed from the game immediately after.

Head coach Julie Conner was hoping it was a good sign for Cushion was able to return, though she worries about the next few days.

The score at the time Cushion was fouled was 31-13. Tift exploded on the scoreboard after that.

O’ashia Cushion drained a 3-pointer to end the 3rd 35-13. She hit two more in the 4th, as did Jimeylah Cushion. The latter of Jimeylah Cushion’s was a rare four-point play because of a foul More 3’s came from Makayla Bryant and Jakembre Beckhom for a grand total of six made from behind the arc in the 4th frame, all of them coming in a span of 3:30.

Houston managed a jumper from Alaina Coley at the start of the 4th, but could do nothing else to stop the onslaught. Conner started her seniors Friday. She said they had worked with the lineup all week in preparation, but their normal deadly shooting touch was not able to get anything started against the Lady Bears.

Once Jimmya Cushion and a mostly younger crew entered, the Lady Devils began scoring. Cushion had the first seven points of the night. Houston rallied with three buckets to cut it to 7-6 before Jalaya Miller finished the period with points on a Bryant assist.

Miller’s basket opened the initial floodgates, Tift racing out to a 20-6 lead. They did it with scoring and they did it with defense. Janie Ragsdale had two blocks in the 1st half, including knocking an attempted 3-pointer into the stands. Miller and Beckhom also swatted shots.

Houston’s Kinley Snider broke Tift’s string of points, then the Lady Devils scored six more to close out the 1st half.

Three Lady Devils finished in double-digits, Jimmya Cushion leading with 14 points. O’ashia Cushion finished with 12 and Beckhom was at 10. They had nine 3-pointers as a team.

Snider finished at 6 points. The remainder of the Lady Bears had four baskets total. The team went 0-for-7 from the free throw line.