Kahlia Lawrence scored 25 points and Kendrick brought Wesleyan’s reign of state championships to an end with a 69-58 victory Friday in the Class AA girls basketball final at the Macon Coliseum.
Second-ranked Wesleyan (27-4) was attempting to because the first Georgia basketball team, boys or girls, to win seven consecutive state championships. The Wolves remain tied with the Hart County girls, who won six straight titles from 1989 to 1994. The loss was Wesleyan’s first in a state playoff game since dropping a 73-45 decision against Greater Atlanta Christian in the 2007 Class AA final and its first playoff loss against a public school since Jefferson beat the Wolves 55-52 in the 2001 Class A final.
No. 1 Kendrick (31-0) completed a perfect season and won its second state title. The Cherokees beat Carrollton to win the Class AAA championship in 2008.
“This is what we worked for,” Lawrence said. “We worked so hard this year to make it this far. We made it, and we got the job done. I’m so proud of my teammates. We didn’t start off exactly like we wanted to, but we finished right. We’re state champions.”
Lawrence scored 10 points in the third quarter as the Cherokees outscored Wesleyan 18-12 to turn a 32-29 halftime deficit into a 47-44 lead. She scored six of her points in a 8-1 run to open the quarter and had an assist on a jumper by Deja Cheatham that put Kendrick ahead 35-33 with 6:48 to play in the quarter. Wesleyan tied the score twice later in the third but never regained the lead. Cheatham finished with 16 points.
“After the first half, we felt like we needed to come out with more intensity,” Lawrence said. “We weren’t doing what we needed to do. We knew we could beat this team if we did what coach [Sterling Hicks] told us, and we came out with the win.”
Wesleyan’s best stretch came in the final 2:51 of the second quarter after Lawrence picked up her third foul. The Cherokees led 26-21 when she went to the bench, and the Wolves outscored Kendrick 11-3 in the remainder of the quarter to lead 32-29 at halftime.
Nikki McDonald led Wesleyan with 15 points. Devyn Lowe made two 3-pointers and finished with 12 points, and Mikayla Coombs had 11.
Kendrick (69): Kahlia Lawrence 25, Marganique McKissic 2, Brittany Thompson 8, Taylor Farley 9, Deja Cheatham 16, Angela Jones 5, Lashayla Green, Aleshia Thomason, Raven Baker, Donivan Dyson 2, Orianya Babatua, Destin Murph, Melia Jones 2, Ashunti Jack, Ashton Draper.
Wesleyan (58): Lauren Frerking 4, Cairo Booker 8, Landyn Duley 2, Nikki McDonald 15, Keevana Edwards 2, Mikayla Coombs 11, Riley Casey 4, Devyn Lowe 12.
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