WOODVILLE — The Franklin County Lady Bulldogs knew what they were facing in the defending 3A champion Lady Eagles of South Pike.

However, a great defensive effort by the No. 3 seed Lady Dawgs allowed them to pull off a big upset over the top seeded Lady Eagles by the score of 52-50 to win the Region 7-3A Tournament.

“This win lets us know that we could be playing at the level of a championship team,” Franklin County coach Charles Moore said. “This gives us a big bump going into the South State Tournament.”

The Lady Bulldogs trailed 31-26 at halftime, but quickly took the lead early in the third quarter and held it most of the remainder of the contest.

Franklin County took its biggest lead of the half when Monique Starks made a basket to put the Lady Dawgs up 52-47 with 2:40 remaining.

However, that was the last points that Franklin County would muster in the game.

A basket and one free throw cut the lead to two points with a minute remaining.

South Pike had numerous chances to tie the game or take the lead in the final 45 seconds.

The Lady Eagles had four shots at the basket following offensive rebounds in the final 30 seconds but could get none of them to fall.

A final attempt by Slocomb in the lane in the closing seconds fell short and Monea Cameron cradled the rebound and the region championship.

“It was a great defensive effort by us,” Moore said. “They knew South Pike would come back gunning at us, but they refused to break.”

Charlesia Houston and Paige Webster led Franklin County with 12 points apiece while Shareka Hunt scored 11.

Shaquetta Anderson led South Pike with 15 points while Slocomb scored 10.

Jefferson County boys 70,

Franklin County 40

Jefferson County got off to a slow start in the boys championship game of the tournament, but boy did they finish strong.

The Tigers trailed 22-16 at halftime, but outscored Franklin County 54-18 in the second half to take the 30-point victory and region championship.

“We’ve been going to the title game for three years and we were finally rewarded,” Jefferson County coach Marcus Walton said. “We started off a little slow, but we were able to get our defense going in the second half. It was a total team effort.”

Jefferson County was led by Kadon Day with 22 points while Trevillion Gaines had 18 and Percy Turner scored 15.

Jamie Collins was the only Bulldog in double figures with 13 points.

Jefferson County (22-10) will host either Purvis or Greene County in the South State Tournament play-in game at 7 p.m. Tuesday.