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Playoff-bound. The Troup girls basketball team officially clinched a playoff berth on Tuesday with a 48-43 win over Upson-Lee in the Region 2-3A tournament.

“This feels really good, a lot of people doubted us coming into this season for a lot of reasons,” said Carla Thornton, Troup’s head coach. “You can tell how bad the girls wanted this.”

The fine margins continued into the second half as Troup’s lead stood at 31-26 heading to the fourth. The Tigers were able to get some breathing room late in the quarter thanks to a technical foul that saw an Upson-Lee player ejected from the contest. Sheniyah Philpot would connect on both free throws.

“We came here to play basketball, we’re not interested in all that extracurricular stuff,” Thornton said. “We didn’t want anything to ruin our chances of going to the playoffs.”

The Knights would not go away quietly and cut the Troup lead down to just two points with a shade over five minutes to play, but Philpot answered with two quick layups to get the lead back up to six points.

Upson-Lee would rally again, this time tying the game at 38 with three minutes left in the game. The teams would trade baskets until Philpot’s layup with 1:45 left in the game gave Troup a 42-40 lead. Makayla Reed, just a freshman, would drill a 3-pointer just seconds later after a huge steal and that would be the deciding basket. 

“I was feeling confident, it was a tough start for me offensively, but I’m glad I can do that for my team in moments like that,” Reed said. 

Philpot would ice the game with a pair of free throws with 11.7 seconds on the clock.

“Makayla comes in and plays point which allows me to move more to the post where I love playing,” Philpot said. “She’s brought a lot of offense and it has helped everybody else out.”

Philpot had ice in her veins, scoring 10 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter.

“My offense was so bad all game, but my teammates kept telling me to keep shooting and they kept believing in me,” Philpot said.

Despite being a freshman, Reed is already a key figure for the Tigers, finishing with 13 points on Tuesday. She transferred in from Calvary Christian halfway through the season and has fit in like she has been with the team for years. 

“I knew I was expected to come in and play, but I didn’t expect to have this role, but this is definitely a step up, and I enjoy it. It’s really challenging me to get better,” Reed said. 

Senior Raygen Godfrey also ensured that this would not be her final game in blue and gold, scoring eight points. 

Troup is now 15-8 on the season. The Tigers will have a tough task ahead of them as they travel to Sandy Creek on Thursday for a matchup with no. 1 seed Fayette County with a spot in the region championship game on the line. The Tigers lost to Fayette County twice in the regular season.

“They are the no. 2 team in the state for a reason, but we can go out there and work on some little things and just play free and loose,” Thornton said.