THOMASVILLE — Bulldog and Yellow Jacket fans alike got a treat on Thursday night as both the girls and boys squads put on a show.

The girls got the night started off right for the Yellow Jackets as they quickly built up a lead. Behind solid defense and the stellar shooting of Tia Floyd, Vesha Giddens and Marcy Pearson, Central took an 18-6 lead with five minutes left in the first half.

Both teams were getting good looks at the hoop, but Thomasville’s shooting woes, which have plagued them all season, continued as they couldn’t take the lid off the basket. It didn’t help that Central was doing a great job closing out on the Bulldog shooters and scoring off turnovers. The Yellow Jackets led 29-10 at halftime.

Though the game was already well in hand, the third quarter was when the Yellow Jackets really took over as threes rained down. Floyd got the scoring started for Central hitting back-to-back threes to start the half. Harmonee Ross followed that with a three of her own and Marcy Pearson, who was getting excellent penetration in the second half, drained a three as well. Meanwhile, the defense was stifling as Thomasville was held to just five points in the quarter. Vesha Giddens knocked down a pair of threes to close out the third quarter to give the Yellow Jacket six three pointers in the quarter and allowed just five points. Heading into the final frame, Central led by a commanding 50-15.

To Thomasville’s credit, they didn’t give up. As Central sat most of their starters to start the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs offense picked up and began to hit shots and get good looks in the paint. They had several breakaway scores leading to seven points for Thomasville in the first two minutes of the fourth. Some close range lay ins and a few defensive stops led to some serious positives for the Bulldogs as they outscored Central 21-4 in the quarter, even after the Yellow Jackets starters reentered the game.

As the final horn sounded, Central’s eight three pointers were two much for the Bulldogs as the Yellow Jackets took the 54-36 win. Floyd, Giddens and Pearson finished with double digit points and Floyd led the team with three made three’s and went 6-13 on the night.

The boys game was a much closer contest that went down to the wire. Thomasville jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead, but Central drained a three and was getting good looks and brought it within one. After Colby Mullinax dropped 13 in Central’s win over Valwood, the Yellow Jackets were feeding him early and often, finding the young sophomore in the paint for the turn around jumper.

Thomasville, however, began to pull away in the opening frame as they were finishing at the rim with ease and went into the second quarter up 15-8.

Central started the second quarter fast, as Chris Williams knocked down a three and Cam Brooks pushed down the floor for a two and one, making it 15-14 just 39 seconds in. Central continued to push the ball down the floor drawing plenty of shooting fouls and draining their free throws. By halftime, Central had outscored the Bulldogs 16-3 in the quarter and led 24-18.

Thomasville stormed into the second half as a three from Xavier Burkes and a Nigel Pittman and one tied the game at 24. Burkes then gave the Bulldogs the lead with a smooth mid-range jumper.

It felt like there was a lead change every 30 seconds as these cross town rivals battled it out in a back and forth contest. Heading into the forth quarter, Thomasville retained a slim 33-31 lead.

Back and forth they went as Thomasville’s defense held strong, but the Bulldogs struggled to finish at the rim. With three and a half minutes to go, Thomasville clung to a 39-35 lead, but a couple of steals led to Central scoring and Mullinax tied the game up. The Bulldogs would respond and regained the lead with a three. Central was getting to the line often and out rebounding the Bulldog’s, but they couldn’t get their shots to fall as Thomasville extended their lead to five on a Burkes triple.

Antonie Garland would hit his second three of the quarter two keep the Bulldogs lead at five and despite the chance for Central, they continued to struggle from the charity stripe. Central failed to execute a buzzer beater play in the last five seconds and to the fans’ astonishment, Thomasville came away with the hard fought 52-49 victory.