If you’re nail biter, you’re down to the cuticles if you sat for the Lady Panthers three-point win at home Friday against the Lady Bulldogs. The girls trailed the whole game but grasped a last-minute, 46-43 win to a cheering home crowd.

Thomson’s Natasha Ballard powered through the home squad, scoring 14 points on quick turnovers and easy layups. Assisting her was Nekia McNair who also scored 14.

The home team had to battle for possession and points.

The Liberty girls trailed by 3 in the first quarter, by 5 in the second and once again by 3 in the third.

In the fourth quarter, the girls were tied at 33 with 6:33 left. A trade off of points ended when Thomson took a 7-point lead.

Kourntey Alexander, Diamone Johnson and Anika Taylor got the Hinesville girls back in the game. However with 31 seconds left in regulation the Bulldogs were sent to the line and went up 43-42. The Liberty girls got the ball down court where Johnson found Precious Williams under the net, tossed her a quick pass and Williams hit the basket.

The Bulldogs had a chance, but for once Ballard missed an easy shot. Liberty grabbed the rebound and once again found Johnson down court. She repeated her toss to Williams who hit the shot with less than 10 seconds on the clock. The Bulldogs tried to get the ball down court but the clock ran out.

"We’ve been in a slump ever since we lost to Washington County," Lady Panther coach Carolyn Kelly said. "It’s the part of the season where everybody is tired physically and mentally. We didn’t play well defensively and we turned the ball over. Truth be told they out played us and we simply won because we have more talent... We hope we can get whatever we are going through out of us right now and tat our players will continue to pick up our level of play."

The girls are 14-4 overall and 6-2 in region 3-AAA.