The Liberty County Lady Panthers are on to the second round of the Class AAA state girls basketball playoffs after an impressive 64-48 win over Hephzibah in the first round Tuesday.

The Lady Panthers, the second seed from Region 3-AAA, never trailed against the Lady Rebels, long one of the state’s girls basketball powerhouses.

Destiny Grider and Lyric McIver combined for the game’s first six points and Liberty never trailed. Two Roemell Brown free throws tied the game at 14-14 with 6:28 left in the first half, but the Lady Panthers closed the half on an 18-5 run.

Shuntajia Garcia got it started with back-to-back baskets, and Grider had six points in the spurt. Liberty held Hephzibah without a field goal for the final 5:12 of the half.

Za’Nyah Mullins opened the second half with three consecutive baskets, bringing the Lady Rebels within seven points. But Liberty turned up the defense and got three baskets in less than a minute, getting two from Keyara Grant to stretch the lead back to 41-27

Hephzibah closed the gap to 10 twice but the Lady Panthers sealed the win with a 9-0 run, ignited by McIver’s three-point play and further fueled by Asia Johnson’s 3-pointer. The 19-point lead, at 55-36, was the biggest game of the game for the Lady Panthers.

Liberty County (19-8) will play at Mary Persons, a 55-24 winner over Thomasville in the first round.

Grider led the way with 19 points, and McIver added 13. Johnson finished with nine points in the win.

Brown had 19 points for the Lady Rebels, who finished the season at 18-8. Mullins had 12 points, and Jaliyah Terry added 10.