The Georgiana Lady Panthers and the McKenzie Lady Tigers took the floor Wednesday night in what turned out to be a fast and furious shootout. The McKenzie High Lady Tigers were able to claim the victory thanks to a pair of free throws from Kassie Everett ties the game and a pair by Akeia Owens pushed them in front by three points with less than a minute to go.

With the game tied at 41-41, Owens is fouled and sent to the line. She buries her two free shots and puts the Lady Tigers in the lead. On the Lady Panthers ensuing possession they have the ball stolen, but that leads to another trip to line for Owens. She has two shots and a chance to ice the game, but instead hits the hard, back iron of the rim and misses both freebies.

But, Owens gets a third chance and this cashes in the freebies to put them up by 2, 45-43.

The Lady Panthers inbound the ball, but no one is there to catch and it goes back the other direction to McKenzie.

"We just came out and played with no heart," said John Cheatham, coach of the Georgiana Lady Panthers. "I hope that when we go down to Flomaton in a week, that we put on a better display of heart than this."

The physicality of the last few moments of the game shows through when the Lady Panthers and the Lady Tigers have a jumpball called while both teams are battling for the ball.

McKenzie inbounds the ball, and lets the clock run down to secure the victory. This win was payback from December when the Lady Panthers knocked off the Lady Tigers.

Tiffany Smith finished the night with 16 points to lead the Lady Panthers in scoring. Tenisha Page tacked on 10 points and Patrice Cheatham tacked on eight points in the Senior Night loss.

For the McKenzie Lady Tigers, LaShae Pitts was the leading scorer with 20 points. Owens finished the night with five points and Everett finished with seven points.

The Lady Tigers had control of the game from the opening tip.

"This was a big win for our girls," said Cindy Lowe, coach of the McKenzie Lady Tigers. "I think it gives us a lot of confidence going into the area tournament."

McKenzie jumped out to a 10-7 lead at the end of the first period and then swelled it to 22-16 at the intermission. They kept their lead through the conclusion of the third period, 32-25 and then lost it with 3:00 left in the game.