NEWNAN — The Spalding High Jaguars and Lady Jaguars played their last regular-season, non-tournament games of December this past Saturday and they split with Newnan High.

The Lady Jags defeated the Newnan Lady Cougars but the Jags were beaten by the Newnan Cougars.

Spalding 61, Newnan 45 (girls): Spalding guards Shaquoria Reid and Veronica Anderson scored 23 and 14 points respectively, leading the Lady Jags to the big win over Newnan in non-region road action Saturday.

Playing without leading scorer Twandalette Cotton (excused absence) and Grenishia Daniel (injury), Spalding put forth a tremendous effort and won the contest over Newnan, a Class AAAAAA team. The Lady Jags (6-4 overall) led 17-6 after the first quarter, 29-24 at halftime and 39-36 heading into the fourth quarter.

Spalding head coach Chad Hubbard said his team did a good job of containing 6-foot-4 Newnan center Tara Calloway, who scored early but got into foul trouble in the third quarter and had to sit. Spalding took advantage when Calloway was out of the game.

“Desiree [Corbin] controlled the paint once Calloway got in foul trouble,” Hubbard said. “Also, I was proud of how well Sierra Kendall played off our bench. She hasn’t gotten much time so far, but she responded against Newnan.”

Corbin notched another double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds while Kendall, a freshman, scored 4 points and snagged 8 rebounds while playing good defense for Spalding.

The Lady Jags will play in the Meriwether County Tournament today through Saturday in Greenville, Ga. before starting Region 4-AAAA, Division B play at Riverdale Jan. 4 at 6 p.m.

Newnan 74, Spalding 53 (boys): The Spalding Jags fell behind early and couldn’t catch up, losing to the Newnan Cougars 74-53 in non-region action on the road Saturday night.

Gone is the Jags’ three-game win streak and they now fall to 5-3 overall.

“It was a situation where we couldn’t get stops at crucial times. We would make some plays, but we couldn’t hold Newnan down for the majority of the game,” said Jags head coach Kemo Spear. “Newnan is a good team with a few D-1 players.”

The Jags will play in the Meriwether County Tournament today through Saturday in Greenville, Ga. before starting Region 4-AAAA, Division B play at Riverdale Jan. 4 at 7:30 p.m.