State tournament: SW DeKalb girls poised to repeat

The Southwest DeKalb girls are on the brink of a repeat.

Kayla Lewis scored 24 points to lead the Panthers to an 80-48 victory against Bainbridge in the Class AAAA state semifinals on Wednesday.

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Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com

Southwest DeKalb’s Olivia Gibbs, right, battles Bainbridge’s Vanessa Jones in Wednesday’s AAAA semifinal action at the Gwinnett Arena.

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Southwest won its first state championship in the program’s history last season.

“Last year we had some great players, including three that went D-1,” Southwest coach Kathy Walton said. “This year’s group wants to establish their own identity.”

Southwest’s Kedeja Moton came off the bench to hit a pair of crushing 3-pointers, and Jamesha Blake played the most important role while guarding Bainbridge’s Alexis Burke, who is considered one of the nation’s top sophomores. The 5-foot-11 Burke finished with 13 points.

“Everybody talks about how [Burke] is a great player, and she is, but Jamesha stepped up to the challenge and contained her,” Walton said.

Not many people thought Southwest DeKalb would make it back to the championship after losing three of the school’s all-time greats — Charanee Stephens (signed with South Carolina), Simone Rutledge (Tennessee Tech) and Eboni Mitchell (Illinois).

“Nobody was coming around talk to us this year; the coaches weren’t ranking us very high,” Walton said. “That was OK to me. I told the kids they would have to earn it.”