Georgiana jumped out to an early lead against Montgomery Catholic yesterday afternoon and never looked back, winning 69-47.

The Panthers led 16-9 at the end of the first quarter, but Georgiana extended it to double digits in the second quarter and that’s where it stayed.

The lead had grown to 39-22 at halftime, and the Panthers came out hot in the second half.

Victor Marshall opened the half with six straight points, and Georgiana had an 8-2 run.

One thing that helped the Panthers was the play of Jamie Williams, who had 27 points in the game.

“He definitely helped us out with his scoring,” said head coach Kirk Norris.

Jerrod Lee also added 12 points and LaCory Savage had 11.

Despite the offensive show, Norris said it was defense that won the game.

“That was some of the best defense I’ve seen us play all year,” he said. “We play man to man, and it’s not just you out there. You’ve got to depend on your teammates. We played really well as a unit.”

The game marked Georgiana’s second win of the season over 4A Catholic.

“Our next game is an area game, and this is a good way to go into that,” Norris said. “We’ve got a good shot to compete for an area title.”

The Panthers are in a region with J.F. Shields, J.U. Blacksher and Frisco City.

They open region play at J.U. Blacksher on Tuesday.

Georgiana is also coming off a trip to the Downtown Dothan Hoops Classic, where they won a game before running into Dothan High School.

In the first round, the Panthers faced the Gamecocks of New Brockton and came away a 51-39 winner.

Jerrod Lee was the leading scorer with 16 points and Damien McIntosh added 11.

Georgiana also went 22-29 from the free throw line.

“That 75 percent from the line was our best free throw performance of the year,” Norris said. “We’ve struggled with that all year, but it was the difference in the game.”

The next game was against 6A Dothan, which the Panthers lost 64-44.

Despite the disparity in size between the schools, Georgiana actually led early but trailed by four points at the half.

Dothan also capitalized from the free throw line — Georgiana had 23 fouls called on them, while Dothan only had 11.

“Our biggest problem was that we gave up some offensive rebounds,” Norris said. “It was good for us to play a bigger school. That didn’t do anything but help us.”

Norris also said the players enjoyed playing in a venue like the civic center.

“It was a good experience, and we had a good tournament,” he said. “I hope we can continue to keep doing it.”