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By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

It’s been tough going in region play for the LaGrange Lady Grangers.

With Tuesday’s 53-52 loss to Cedartown, LaGrange (7-14 overall) fell to 0-8 in Region 5-AAAA play.

LaGrange appeared on the verge of ending its losing skid on Tuesday, but Cedartown made a 3-pointer in the closing moments to earn the road win.

Part of the reason for LaGrange’s struggles has been injuries.

Seniors Kamelah Kelley and Chaquave’ayr Robinson, veteran players who provide ofense as well as the ability to handle the ball, are both out with injuries.

Without them some younger players, including freshman Corriah Williams and sophomore Kyla Campbell, have been tasked with doing a lot of the ball-handling, and it has been a struggle at times.

LaGrange head coach Stephen Tuck does believe there’s a silver lining to the injuries.

“The beauty of it is, my guards that are coming up, they’ve got experience now,” Tuck said. “If we can get healthy by region-tournament time with the experience they have now have, it makes our depth much better.”

Tuck is hopeful Kelley and Robinson can return for the region tournament.

There were some encouraging signs to take from Tuesday’s game.

The Lady Grangers have struggled offensively this season, but the 52 points scored against Cedartown was their most against any region opponent.

“One of the things we talked about was being patient on offense, and to be able to put up 52 points today, that’s great,” Tuck said.

Kamelah Kelley led LaGrange with 12 points, Madison Coverson added 11 points, and

Holly Lynn chipped in with eight points.

LaGrange visits Cartersville before hosting LaGrange on Saturday.

On the opposite end of the region spectrum are the Troup Lady Tigers.

Troup (18-0) continued its perfect season with a 47-37 road win over Cedartown on Wednesday.

With that win, Troup maintained its hold on first place in the region with an 8-0 record, with Central-Carroll close behind at 7-1.

Troup’s unbeaten season appeared to be in jeopardy on Tuesday when Sandy Creek built a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Tigers, though, fought back and won it 44-43, with Samarria Weldon making a pair of free throws with less than three seconds left to give her team the lead.

One day later, despite playing without Aniya Palmer who was out with an injury, Troup beat a strong Cedartown team to make it 18 straight wins to start the season.

“That’s all we know, just believing in the team,” said Troup head coach Carla Thornton. “Somebody goes down, it’s the next man up. Whoever’s on the court, we’ve got faith in all those people.

Next up for Troup is Saturday’s game at LaGrange, and it closes the region schedule with games against Cedartown, Central-Carroll and Cartersville.

REGION 5-AAAA

STANDINGS

Overall record first followed by region record

Troup                       18-0, 8-0

Central-Carroll       18-3, 7-1

Cedartown                9-6, 5-3

Sandy Creek            10-9, 4-3

Chapel Hill              9-11, 2-5

Cartersville              8-12, 1-7

LaGrange                7-14, 0-8