The return of Kayla Buchanan to the Bowdon High School girls basketball lineup definitely gives the Red Devilettes a different dynamic.

And even though the senior power forward still shows the effects from that injured left knee, Buchanan still proved to be a game-changer during Bowdon’s 53-46 home win over Darlington on Friday night, just her second game back after missing a good portion of the season.

“Kayla’s still struggling a little bit with her knee, but she helps us tremendously,” Red Devilette coach Melissa Ring said. “She’s just a force. You can’t ignore her, even when she’s not at tip-top shape. She’s still somebody you have to pay attention to, and I think that made a difference for us.”

With Kayla Buchanan’s presence inside, it opened up the perimeter, something Jessica Buchanan certainly took advantage of against the Lady Tigers (7-12, 4-5 Region 6-A), knocking down four three-pointers to finish with a game-high 17 points.

Jessica Buchanan scored 11 of those points during a big third quarter for Bowdon (9-10, 3-6 Region 6-A)), which outscored Darlington 20-6 to turn a 17-all halftime score into a 37-23 Red Devilette lead entering the final eight minutes.

“Whenever she’s on, we’re a much better team,” Ring said of Jessica Buchanan, who hit three of her treys in that pivotal third quarter.

The Red Devilettes would keep their lead at or above 10 points until the one-minute mark when Darlington’s Lindsay Evans hit a three-pointer to make it a 48-41 contest, but Bowdon hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute to secure the win.

Evans drained a three-pointer from three-quarters court at the buzzer, but all it did was make the final margin seven points instead of 10.

Along with Jessica Buchanan’s 17 points, Kayla Buchanan (12 points), Sky Nicholson (10 points) and Camry Morris (9 points) also played solid for Bowdon. Evans scored 16 to lead the Lady Tigers.

Ring said she’ll be keeping a watchful eye on Kayla Buchanan as she works on getting back to her old self. Kayla Buchanan went down awkwardly midway through the fourth quarter, grabbing her left knee, which is now in a big brace. Obviously a cause of concern for Ring, she took her out for the rest of the game.

“When she looks like she’s fatigued or that she’s favoring it at all, I’m pulling her out,” Ring said. “Then, obviously, when she has a situation like that, we’re just going to pull her out and sit her down and be done with it.”

Ring is hopeful that her top post player will be ready to go next Tuesday when Bowdon heads to Bremen in a big region game.

“We’ll take a look at it and make sure there’s not any swelling next week, and if there is, she’ll be out until it’s gone,” Ring said. “We’ll just kind of keep using her when we can.”

Darlington boys 89, Bowdon 65: It was the Tyshawn Good show at Ava Sewell Gymnasium on Friday night, as the Tiger shooting guard poured in 41 points to keep the state-ranked Tigers unbeaten in Region 6-A action at 9-0.

Good scored 21 in the first half and another 20 in the second, dropping threes from outside and being a force going to the rack as well.

Bowdon coach Vic Coggins said he’s a handful, although he wasn’t too pleased that Good was still on the court firing up shots with the game already decided late in the fourth quarter.

“He’s tough to defend. He goes to the basket well. He shoots the ball well,” Coggins said. “He even continued to shoot it well when they were up 30 in the fourth.”

Bowdon (11-8, 6-3 Region 6-A) was competitive with the Tigers for the first half despite having three starters battling a stomach virus.

Darlington led just 18-15 after the first quarter and used a late four-point flurry from Good to stretch the halftime lead to 10 at 44-34.

“We fought hard in the first half, and got after it and kept it pretty close, but they shoot the ball so well and they continued to,” Coggins said.

Darlington, ranked No. 10 in Class A, began to pull away in the third quarter, stretching the lead to 20 at one point, then went on a 19-6 run to open the fourth and put the game on ice.

The Tigers shot 19-of-24 from the charity stripe, and proved to be a tough matchup due to their combination of athleticism and being fundamentally-sound, to boot.

“They’re very solid all the way around,” Coggins said. “They’re definitely tough to stop.”

J.J. Beasley (15 points, 5 rebounds), Cedric Strickland (10 points, 9 rebounds) and Avery Cheeks (10 points) led Bowdon offensively.