By Kevin Eckleberry

Sports Editor

With the game hanging in the balance, the LaGrange Lady Grangers did not play like a team that had lost nine of its previous 10 games.

After Columbus went on a 7-2 run to get within a point late in the fourth quarter Friday night, the Lady Grangers (7-12 overall) didn’t let things get away from them, and they earned a 43-40 victory to improve to 3-6 in Region 2-AAA.

It was quite a reversal from the previous meeting between the two teams, which Columbus won 65-41.

“We kept our poise, and they did things right,” LaGrange head coach Jan Jones said. “We’ve been trying to tell them the last couple of weeks, play with confidence. I felt like tonight they played with confidence and they knew they could do it from the get-go.”

It wasn’t easy.

After Columbus got within a point with 2:35 left, the Lady Grangers twice went back ahead by three, once on an Arneshia Williams hook shot, and once on a Terryuana Godwin fastbreak layup.

The Lady Devils didn’t fade away, though, and they again closed the gap to one point with six seconds left.

The Lady Devils caught a break when the Lady Grangers missed a free throw with four seconds left, and a Columbus player called a timeout after pulling down the rebound.

Problem was, Columbus didn’t have any timeouts remaining, so that was an automatic technical foul.

Angel Penn made two free throws to put the Lady Grangers up 43-40, and they ran out the clock when they inbounded the ball.

“We’ve struggled this season, but I was glad to see them come out and play like a team,” Jones said.

Godwin led LaGrange with nine points, and Brenia Porter and Williams scored six points apiece.

Today at Heard County, LaGrange will try to win two games in a row for the first time since the first two games of the season.

LaGrange beat Heard 43-26 in December.