State tournament: SW DeKalb girls win AAAA title

You could consider Friday’s game between Southwest DeKalb and Fayette County an upset, but only if you weren’t paying attention.

Southwest DeKalb knocked off previously undefeated Fayette County 59-46 in the Class AAAA championship game at Gwinnett Arena for its second consecutive championship and second in school history.

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Jason Getz/jgetz@ajc.com

Southwest DeKalb’s Chyna Miley, left, Kayla Lewis, center, and Jamesha Blake (40) celebrate their 59-46 win over Fayette County for the Class AAAA girls title at the Arena at the Gwinnett Center Friday.

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The Tigers (31-1) entered with all the fanfare: an unblemished record, a national ranking and even a recent highlight on SportsCenter. There was only one problem.

Southwest DeKalb was the better team, and it has been since it defeated the same Tigers 62-46 last March in this same game.

“You could say we had a chip on our shoulders,” Panthers coach Kathy Richie-Walton said. “No one really paid attention to us all season. We felt overlooked.”

All eyes were on Southwest DeKalb on Friday. The Panthers (29-4) never trailed after the first minute of the game. They controlled the tempo, harassed talented Tigers point guard Tessah Holt and got high-percentage shots.

Southwest DeKalb’s lead was just 24-22 at the half. But whenever Richie-Walton needed a spurt, there was another one of her players making a contribution.

While only Holt and juniors Anma Onyeuku and Sasha Sims scored for Fayette County in the first half, the Panthers were getting production from seven players. Even freshman Olivia Gibbs nailed a key 3-pointer late in the first half.

“I’ve waited to say this until now, but I think we’re actually a better team than we were last year,” Richie-Walton said. “We played 10 in this game, and we got minutes from the freshmen. If we do that well, we’re hard to beat.”

Holt finished with 17 points. Kayla Lewis led Southwest DeKalb with 16 points.