Lady Eagles Sore Past Lady Tigers As Columbia Knocks Offs Georgia #15 Douglas County
On Monday, Georgia’s No. 15 girls basketball team, the Douglas County Lady Tigers hosted the Columbia Lady Eagles in the first annual J4 Sports MLK Holiday Basketball Classic. #23 So. Amari Robinson (14 pts) would get things going for the Lady Tigers scoring the first five points for Douglas County on a layup off the opening tip and then a 3 point basket off a Columbia turnover. Columbia would answer with a 3-point basket of their own followed by a layup by #2 Sr. Deidra Harris in which she drew a foul and completed the 3-point play to give Columbia a 6-5 lead with 6:26 to go in the first quarter. As the opening period continued, both Columbia and Douglas County would get good defensive stops as the quarter would come to an end with Douglas County leading Columbia 13-11.
As the second quarter got under way, 1:22 would pass before Columbia’s #11 Sr. Ilia Mathis (17 pts) would draw a foul connecting on the front end of a 1 and 1 to tie the game at 13. Columbia would then get a 3-point basket from #24 So. Shontrice Austin would hit to give the Eagles their first lead 16-13. Mathis would then hit another 3-point basket to lift Eagles 19-15 over the Lady Tigers with 4:45 to go in the first half. With 2:21 remaining, Douglas County would still be trailing by 1 and would regain the lead after a Columbia missed a shot which led to a layup by #21 Sr. Taylor Donelson followed by another basket by #30 Sr. Arsula Cark (21 pts) off a Columbia turnover as Douglas County would go up 25-22 with 1:12 remaining in the half and the Lady Tigers would go on to close out the half leading the Lady Eagles by a score of 27-24.
As the second half of play began, Douglas County would score on their first possession courtesy a put back by Robinson however Columbia would answer with a 2-point basket of their own as the Lady Tigers would remain in the lead up 31-26 with 6:20 to go in the third quarter. On their ensuing possession, Columbia would close the gap when Mathis hit a 3-point basket to make it a 31-29 game. The score would remain close as play continued but a few turnovers by Columbia would force the Eagles to take a timeout with 3:11 to go and down 36-32. Out of the timeout, both teams would get big baskets as the quarter came to an end with Columbia trailing 40-36. With the final quarter under way,
Columbia would get within down one and eventually thanks to a steal and layup by Mathis as Columbia would take the lead going up 44-41 with 3:48 to go forcing Douglas County to use a timeout. As play resumed, Columbia’s defense would continue to frustrate the Lady Tigers as they would use another timeout with 2:14 remaining in the fourth quarter down 46-41. Out of the timeout, the Lady Tigers would score back to back baskets by Clark and Donelson to get the Lady Tigers within one as Columbia held on to a 46-45 lead and forcing the Lady Tigers to use a timeout with 1:28 to go in the game. As play continued Douglas County would get several opportunities to take the lead but failed to do so and two fouls drawn by Columbia’s Mathis would lift the Lady Eagles to a 50-45 lead with :10 to go in the game and Columbia would go on to knock off Douglas County by a final score of 50-46. Douglas County falls to 16-3 on the season while Columbia improves to 7-7.
