The Georgiana Lady Panthers clawed back from a double-digit deficit on the road against the Greenville Lady Tigers, whittling it down to just 4 points.

But a torrent of fourth-quarter Greenville offense, led by senior Adrienna Taylor, widened the gap once more as Greenville surged to a 66-49 win.

Greenville’s smothering defense made inbound passes a chore for the Georgiana backcourt, which led to steals and subsequent scores for the Lady Tigers.

Though Greenville built a sizable 15-point lead midway through the third quarter, Georgiana’s defense took advantage of poor passes to create turnovers and fast-break points to close the gap.

Tah’Ja Herbert’s potential 3-point play trimmed the lead to just 4 points with 5 seconds left in the half, but a buzzer-beater 3-pointer from Taylor renewed the Lady Tigers’ cushion heading into the fourth quarter.

That momentum carried over as another Greenville 3-pointer immediately restored the team’s double-digit lead.

Despite a strong 17-point performance from Georgiana’s Tenashia Gordon in the final stretch, Taylor kept the Georgiana defense on its heels–and Greenville at the free-throw line–with an aggressive late-game push that decimated the fatigued Lady Panthers.

Both Greenville and Georgiana hit the road Tuesday to face off with Wetumpka and W.S. Neal respectively, though results were not available at press time.

Panthers best Tigers

A first-half full of white-knuckle, back-and-forth action eventually grew lopsided in the final stretch as the Georgiana Panthers claimed its fourth-straight win over in-county rival Greenville Saturday with a 87-70 win.

Though the Panthers never trailed the entire game, the Tigers constantly remained just a 3-pointer or a dunk away from swinging momentum in their favor.

Both teams took a rather hands-on approach to defense, putting the Panthers and the Tigers at the free-throw line early and often. 

But it was the former who took the most advantage of the trips to the charity strike as Georgiana’s small 17-15 first-quarter advantage gradually swelled to 37-31 at the half.

The Panthers won an initial 3-point shootout to build their lead to double digits at the top of the third quarter, though a pair of back-to-back Greenville 3-pointers cut the deficit to just 5 points.

But the Georgiana vise-like full-court press clamped down on the Tigers, the teams’ back-and-forth fast-break buckets became two-for-ones in favor of Georgiana.

Georgiana senior Jamichael Stallworth took over in the second half for the bulk of his 35 points to shift the tide permanently in the Panthers’ favor.

Four different Panthers reached double digits alongside Stallworth, including Chris Mixon with 12 points, Keinderus Mobley with 11 points and Jamarcus Sims with 10 points.

Though the Tigers and the Panthers won’t meet again in regular season play, both teams could face off again in Andalusia’s annual Christmas tournament later this month.