By Kevin Eckleberry

Sports Editor

The Troup Lady Tigers closed the regular season on a high note with a victory over LaGrange Thursday night.

The Lady Tigers are hoping they can ride that wave of momentum into the Region 2-AAA tournament that starts today.

Troup, which finished seventh in the region with a 2-10 record, will take on sixth-seeded Columbus (3-9) at 3 p.m. today at Northside High.

The winner advances to face third-seeded LaGrange (8-4) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Shaw High.

The winner of Tuesday’s game advances to Thursday’s semifinals at LaGrange High and earns an invitation to the state tournament.

On the boys’ side, the fifth-seeded Troup Tigers (5-7) will take on fourth-seeded Carver (5-7) at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Shaw.

The winner of that game will take on top-seeded LaGrange at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.

The championship games are Friday.

All of the semifinal games will be played at LaGrange.

The Lady Tigers had a tough time of it in region play this season, but they found their footing against the rival Lady Grangers.

With sophomore point guard Tanisha Jackson scoring 22 points, the Lady Tigers won 58-46 before a packed house at Troup High.

“They didn’t want to let anybody down,” said Carla Winston, Troup’s first-year coach. “They stepped it up.”

Troup and Columbus split their two regular-season meetings.

On Jan. 8, Columbus rolled to a 51-18 victory at home.

In the rematch at Troup, though, the Lady Tigers won 39-31 on Jan. 26.

The Lady Grangers, meanwhile, will try to re-capture the momentum they had before the Troup game.

LaGrange had won three straight games before stumbling against Troup.

It has still been a fantastic season for the Lady Grangers (16-8 overall), who have made a six-game improvement from last season.

“It’s a great finish from last year,” LaGrange coach Jan Jones said. “We showed much improvement.”

Troup’s boys’ team heads into tournament play on the heels of an impressive performance against LaGrange.

Even though the Tigers lost 53-46, they were in the game until the final minute and had a great chance to hand the Grangers their first loss of the season.

The Tigers have dropped four games in a row, though, a losing skid that began with a 78-70 setback to Carver on Jan. 29.

In the first game against Carver, the Tigers won 62-61 on a last-second shot.

“I just ask for a good effort, play as hard as you can, and you might have a chance at the end,” Troup coach Thermond Billingslea said.

LaGrange, because it earned the No. 1 seed, doesn’t have to play until the semifinals.

Head coach Mike Pauley was glad his team was involved in a tight, down-to-the-wire ballgame heading into tournament play, because “every