(Columbus, GA) — The Lady Braves bounced back with a 40-29 win over Spencer Friday to claim third pace at the Region 5-AA basketball tournament at Spencer High School in Columbus.

The squad battled the Lady Cavs to the wire in Thursday’s semifinal before falling 48-40 in a game that was close throughout.

The Lady Braves led 20-19 at the half while Callaway’s Chyna Cameron sat for most of the second quarter with foul trouble, but when she returned she was hard to stop inside for the much smaller Lady Brave line-up. Cameron scored 15 of her game high 19 in the second half.

Leading the way for the Lady Braves was Haley Bennett with 11, Tori Caldwell with 10, Sage Kelley with seven and freshman Sophia Long with six.

The Lady Braves put together a big comeback to win the third place game over host Spencer Friday afternoon, trailing by seven at the half before going on an 18-5 run in the third quarter to take the lead.

Sage Kelley was named to the Region 5-AA All Tournament team for her efforts this week (Photo: Heard County Lady Braves Basketball on Facebook)

A strong defensive effort in the second half held the Greenwave to just nine second half points.

The top scorer in Friday’s win was Haley Bennett with 18 including 13 in the second half. Kelley and Long each had seven points.

Sage Kelley was selected for the Region 5-AA All Tournament team for her efforts throughout the tournament which included her 20 point game high in Tuesday’s home win over Jordan.

Lamar County rallied from a four point second half deficit to defeated Callaway 52-46 in the Championship game Friday night.

Coach Helen Akins and the Lady Braves will now turn their attentions to the state playoffs next week.

The Lady Braves (11-15, 8-5) will next travel to Atlanta either Friday or Saturday to take on the Region 6-AA No. 2 seeded KIPP Atlanta Warriors (13-12, 10-4) in the first round of the GHSA Class AA State Playoffs.

Stay tuned for game time and more info as it becomes available.