LAGRANGE – They were hoping to make it three in a row against Manchester, but it wasn’t meant to be.

The Troup Lady Tigers, after beating Manchester twice earlier in the season, were unable to duplicate their previous success in the rematch Saturday night.

It was a one-point game early in the fourth quarter, but Manchester created some separation on the way to a 67-57 road victory.

The loss came one day after Troup broke through for its first Region 5-AAAA win of the season against Fayette County.

“I honestly felt like we didn’t play as much as a team as we did last night,” Troup head coach Carla Thornton said following the Manchester loss.

Thornton also pointed out the lack of success at the free-throw line.

“We missed 21 free throws,” Thornton said. “We shot 41, but we’ve got to make them.”

Akhya Mitchell led Troup with 16 points, Kwyneshia Spence added 14 points, and Gabby Lockhart scored 12 points.

Trailing 43-40 at the start of the fourth quarter, Lockhart scored to get the Lady Tigers within one, but they went nearly three minutes without scoring again.

During that span, Manchester went on a 14-0 run to expand its lead to 57-42.

Spence completed a three-point play to get Troup within 12 with four minutes remaining, and the Lady Tigers had plenty of time remaining to mount a comeback.

The Lady Tigers were unable to get any closer than 12 points the rest of the way, though.

Troup did at least get a breakthrough region win on Friday.

After dropping its first three region games, Troup overwhelmed Fayette County 49-33 behind Shaqoya Gilbert’s 20 points and Spence’s 16 points.

Troup (7-9 overall) will put its 1-3 region record on the line when it hosts Carrollton on Tuesday.

The Lady Tigers will be back home on Friday against Sandy Creek as they begin the second half of their region schedule.

Reach Kevin Eckleberry at (706) 884-7311 or on Twitter @lagrangesports