The Newton County girls basketball team set three goals to start the season.
They wanted to win the Division 5-4A regular season title, win the 5-4A tournament and host a home playoff game.
The Lady Cougars have accomplished two out of the three.
After winning the 5-4A regular-season title, the Lady Cougars clinched a home playoff game with a 37-24 win over Florence in Thursday night.
But the Lady Cougars fell in the 5-4A championship game as they lost 41-36 to Quitman on Friday night.
The County team Quitman twice in the regular season.
“It’s tough to beat any team three times in a year, much less a really good team,” Newton County coach Cory Cleveland said. “There are some things we didn’t do that we normally do. They have a really good post player, and you have to know where she is and box her out. She had 27 of their 41 points and really hurt us. We didn’t do a good job on her. We just didn’t execute like we needed to.”
The Cougars, now 20-9 on the season, are scheduled to host Sumrall on Monday night in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs. The winner of Monday’s game will play the winner of Moss Point and Lawrence County.
“It’s been a long time since we hosted a playoff game,” Cleveland said. “That’s one of the things that we wanted to do so that’s a big deal for our kids. They have busted their tails and worked really hard for this. They have done what we asked them to do.”
Keasja Wansley was named the 5-4A defensive player of the year while Cleveland was named the 5-4A Coach of the year. Christaysia Denson, Nahriah Brown, Remini Nickey and Jayden Mack were all named Division 5-4A first-team picks.
County girls 37, Florence 24
The Lady Cougars finished strong as they took a 13-point win over the Lady Eagles on Thursday in the 5-4A semifinals.
County led 8-7 at the end of the first and 16-11 at the half. Florence took the third period 10-5 to tie the game at 21-21 going to the fourth. The Lady Cougars then outscored the Lady Eagles 16-3 in the fourth to take the win.
Nahriah Brown and Kalynn Johnson each had eight points apiece while Christaysia Denson and Remini Nickey each had six point apiece.
Quitman girls 41, County 36
The Lady Panthers broke open a close game in the fourth period to take a five-point win over the Lady Cougars on Friday in the 5-4A championship game.
Quitman led 7-4 at the end of the first but county outscored the Lady Panthers 15-11 to lad 19-18 at the half. County took the third period 11-10 to lead 30-28 going to the fourth. But Quitman outscored County 13-6 in the fourth to take the win.
Nahriah Brown led County with eight points while Christaysia Denson and Hanna McDougle each had seven points apiece.
Northeast Jones boys 68, Newton County 33
The Tigers jumped out to an early lead and took a 35-point win over the Cougars to end their season on Tuesday.
Northeast jumped out to a 26-10 lead in the first period and led 42-20 at the half. Northeast continued to extend its lead in the second half, outscoring County 15-10 in the third and 10-3 in the fourth.
Josiah Cleveland and Jamaal Croft each had eight points apiece to lead the Cougars while Miguel Evans added six points.
