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By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The red-hot Callaway Lady Cavaliers are hoping to close the regular season on a winning note.

Callaway, which has won 10 of its past 12 games, will host Lamar County on Friday in its regular-season finale.

Callaway (10-7 overall) and Bremen are tied for third place in Region 5-AA with 7-4 records, while Lamar County and Heard County are deadlocked at the top of the region with 9-2 records.

Whether Callaway finishes third or fourth, it will need to win a game in the region tournament next week to advance to the state tournament.

Wherever the Lady Cavaliers are seeded, they’ll head into the tournament with plenty of confidence.

“I feel like we’re playing some of our best ball,” Callaway head coach Deyano Martin said. “We’ve still got room to improve, but we’re clicking and playing hard.”

Sophomore guard Gabrielle Johnson, who had 30 points in Wednesday’s non-region win over Valley (Ala.), said “we’re going to keep getting better. We’re ready for region.”

Everything is working for the Lady Cavaliers at the moment.

While Johnson has been the leading scorer in most of the games this season, everyone has been contributing.

In Wednesday’s victory, sophomore post player Camryn Stargell had 10 points and was dominant inside while blocking shots and pulling down rebounds, and sophomore guard Niakoe Burks had 13 points.

Stargell has been a force of late, and she’s fully recovered from a knee injury.

“Stargell was worried about her knee, but she’s got confidence in it,” Martin said. “Niakoe, she was being passive, and she’s been more aggressive.”

Junior guard Serenity Hill didn’t score on Wednesday, but she did a nice job of handling the ball.

“I’m real proud of her,” Martin said. “She came in and played some big minutes. She played really, really hard.”

Junior post player Quentasia Swanson had seven key points against Valley, and senior Javonna Bradford had four points.

Callaway and Lamar County are meeting for the second and final time in the regular season.

In the first game, Lamar County held on for a 51-46 home win.

REGION 5-AA

Overall record first followed by region record

Heard County            12-9, 9-2

Lamar County           16-8, 9-2

Callaway                      10-7, 7-4

Bremen                      10-13, 7-4

Spencer                       8-14, 5-6

Temple                       4-12, 2-10

Jordan                      1-21, 0-11