FAYETTEVILLE – They’re headed to state.

The Troup Lady Tigers knocked off home-standing Fayette County 47-40 on Tuesday to advance to the semifinals of the Region 5-AAAA tournament while also securing an invitation to the state tournament.

Troup will face Woodward Academy on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the region semifinals, and that game will be played at Carrollton High School.

Troup will then either play in the championship game or the third-place game on Friday at Carrollton.

Troup (8-15 overall) finished the regular season with a 1-9 record against its region opponents, but that didn’t matter on Tuesday.

Troup head coach Carla Thornton said she was glad to “just see them smiling, and happy, and to experience some joy and some happiness.”

The Lady Tigers had to rally to make it happen.

As the fourth quarter began, Troup was trailing 37-30, but Thornton told the players to stay the course.

“We got down seven in the fourth quarter, and I was like just stick to the game plan,” Thornton said. “We tightened up the defense. We were able to keep the pressure on.”

Thornton said that no matter what happened, the players stuck to the game plan, and Troup ended up giving up just three points in the fourth quarter.

“That’s the main thing that happened tonight,” she said. “They bought into what we were telling them. They executed tonight. They see it works when we’re doing it right. Everybody had fun, and they played great team ball.”

Shaqoya Gilbert and Kwyneshia Spence each scored 14 points for Troup, and Jedda Madden came up big on the boards with 15 rebounds.

“She came up huge on the rebounding side,” Thornton said. “That was the difference in the game.”

LAGRANGE ACADEMY: The Warriors went on the road and beat Solid Rock 59-48 on Tueday.

Lincoln Anderson led the Warriors with 23 points, Whit Moreman added 15 points, and Colby Heath had nine points.

LaGrange Academy will host Griffin Christian on Thursday before closing the regular season wtih a game at Bethlehem Christian on Friday.

LaGrange Academy hosts the GISA Region 1-AA tournament next week.

SOCCER: LaGrange High’s soccer teams opened their seasons on Thursday, and they had a tough time of it against East Coweta.

East Coweta won the girls’ game 4-0, and it claimed a 6-0 victory in the boys’ game.

Reach Kevin Eckleberry at (706) 884-7311 or on Twitter @lagrangesports