Inside High Schools: Et cetera: Johnson says he’ll attend USC

Fayette County’s Noel Johnson, rated one of the top 50 basketball prospects in the country by most recruiting services, committed to USC Tuesday morning, according to his coach, Andre Flynn.

Johnson’s other finalists were Georgia Tech and Louisville.

The 6-foot-7 Johnson led Fayette County to the Class AAAA championship game last season and averaged 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals, Flynn said. Johnson is rated the No. 7 shooting guard nationally by Rivals.com and the No. 11 small forward by Scout.com.

More Greater Atlanta

Cross country: Banneker senior Ben Edmonson ran a personal-best time of 17:45.54 to place second in the boys division at last weekend’s Sandy Creek Cross Country Fall Classic in Tyrone. The Starr’s Mill girls won their event, paced by the first-place finish of Jackie Sample. All seven of the Panthers’ runners finished in the top 30.

North Fulton

Cross country: Ryan Overstreet’s third-place 17:28 among 95 runners helped Northview finish sixth among 10 teams at Bainbridge’s ninth annual Bearcat Invitational. … Christina Georgiyayos’ fourth-place 20:31 in a field of 108 lifted Holy Innocents’ into seventh of 13 teams in the varsity division of the Sandy Creek Fall Classic. Kyle Donahue’s eighth-place 18:12 against 116 others lifted the Golden Bears boys to ninth of 14 squads in the varsity division. North Forsyth’s boys took third in that division behind Jackson Reynolds’ ninth-place 18:14.

DeKalb County

Cross country: Druid Hills senior Allie Brown recently ran a season best at Shamrock’s course with a time of 21:18.82 seconds to lead the Red Devils to a 27-39 victory over Redan… . St. Pius’ girls finished second at the Chattanooga Cross Country Festival, largely behind the efforts of junior Kathleen LaPorte (second overall, 20:03) and sophomore Erin Osment (16th, 21:47). Softball: Southwest DeKalb entered this week 9-4 overall and 5-1 in Region 6-AAAA Div. B shooting for a third consecutive playoff appearance. The pitching of sophomore right-hander Imani Gayle and the hitting of senior Jasmin Riley and junior Davynn Brown have been the keys.

Cobb County

Cross country: Kell junior Shyam Kapadia took third at the Chattanooga Cross Country Festival with a time of 17:09.75. Allison Brackin of Wheeler was seventh on the girls’ side with a 20:56:38 finish.

Gwinnett County

Softball: Sophomore pitcher Kylie Kleinschmidt has 220 strikeouts in 125 innings for Providence Christian. She’s 13-5 with a 1.01 ERA with seven shutouts and four no-hitters. The Stars are 20-6. … Cross country: Providence’s Elias Christ recently set the school’s 5K record with a time of 16:40.