By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The Troup Tigers opened their region schedule in style.

Facing a Chapel Hill team that’s ranked in the top 10 in Class AAAA, a strong third quarter helped propel Troup to a 58-43 victory in the Region 5-AAAA opener for both teams.

Troup was down by two points at the half, but it outscored Chapel Hill 19-6 in the third quarter to build an 11-point lead.

The Tigers kept the accelerator down in the fourth quarter by scoring 19 points, and they cruised to the 15-point victory.

Jaquavo McFarland led the Tigers with 14 points, and Gabe Cofield and Kobe Hudson were also in double digits in scoring with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

Troup head coach Blake Craft used 11 players in the game, and they all contributed.

In Friday’s girls’ game, Troup had no trouble with Chapel Hill on the way to a 54-31 victory in its first region game.

Troup improved to 8-4 overall while winning for the eighth time in nine games.

Aniya Palmer continued her strong freshman season by scoring 17 points.

Amber Gilbert added 14 points, and Jada Green contributed 12 points.

Troup put it away early.

The Lady Tigers were ahead 16-2 after the first quarter, and they led 27-9 at the half and 43-14 through three periods.

Troup’s teams will play their first region home games today against Sandy Creek, with the girls’ game set to start at 3 p.m. and the boys’ game to follow.