Girls open region tournament with win

Jeff Davis High’s girls opened region tournament play Monday night in Alma with a 43-41 win over Berrien High, but the win didn’t come easily.
The Lady Jackets took an early lead and their defense shut out the Lady Rebels from Nashville in the 2nd quarter to take a 17-10 lead into the dressing room at intermission. The first half featured a balanced attack for the Lady Jackets but center Anna Grace Alligood got into foul trouble early in the contest and spent an unusual amount of time on the bench through the first three quarters of play.
After halftime, Berrien began to find the range on offense but a pair of 3-pt. shots from Brylee Wyatt in the 3rd quarter enabled JD to maintain its lead.
The Jeff Davis lead grew to 8 points early in the 4th quarter and it appeared the Lady Jackets were in good shape to advance to the next round of tournament play. But the Lady Rebels’ Breasia Williams caught fire from the field to lead a comeback that tied the score late in the quarter and Berrien briefly took a 2-pt. lead.
But Alligood, Bree Coney, Markyla Durden and Marlee Burch all hit late buckets to give JD a 43-39 lead with only seconds remaining. Berrien hit a basket with 3 seconds to play to account for the final 43-41 score.
Coney led the Jeff Davis scoring with 13 points and dished off a couple of key assists late in the game. Wyatt and Burch had 8 each, Alligood and Zijanna Mincey scored 6 each and Durden scored 2.
Berrien’s Williams led all scorers with 18, 13 coming in the 4th quarter.
Score by quarters:
Berrien 10 0 16 15 -41
JDHS 11 6 15 11 -43