The top-ranked Tucker girls basketball team will make its second state-finals appearance in three years after using a balanced attack to pull away from No. 4 Douglas County for a 79-66 victory in the Class AAAAAA semifinals Saturday at the University of Weset Georgia.
Tucker will play for the state championship at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Macon Coliseum. The Tigers won the Class AAAAA championship in 2014 before moving up to the highest classification. They lost to Mountain View in the second round last season.
Douglas County finished the season 28-2, and both losses came against Tucker. The teams met in a holiday tournament on Dec. 19, with Tucker winning 74-64.
“We had already beaten them, but that was early and they’ve improved since then,” Tucker coach Robin Potter said. “I don’t think the girls took them for granted by any means. We’re not taking anyone for granted.”
Bria Bass led Tucker with 19 points, including 15 in the first half as her team began to create some separation from Douglas County. Her 3-pointer gave Tucker a 37-31 lead, its biggest of the game at that point, and Tucker increased it to 41-32 at halftime.
Kierra Johnson-Graham, a first-team all-region selection in 2-AAAAAA who missed Tucker’s quarterfinal victory over Woodstock on Thursday with a shoulder injury, scored 16 points. She had four points in Tucker’s 7-2 run to start the second half that made it 48-34, and Douglas County never got closer than five points the rest of the way.
Tucker’s biggest lead came with 4:56 to play in the game when a free throw by Chiqueria Cook made it 68-51. Cook finished with eight points.
Tucker also got strong performances from senior guards Najla Shamsid-Deen and Jayla Morrow, who finished with 17 and 12 points. Arsula Clark led Douglas County with 21 points. Amira Atwater scored nine of her 15 points in the fourth quarter, and Amari Robinson finished with 13.
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