The unexpected late-season surge by the M.L. King girls basketball team has provided senior Azhana Maxwell with some extra opportunities to climb up the list of DeKalb County’s scoring leaders.
The Lions were seeded seventh in last week’s Region 4-AAAAAA tournament after finishing the regular season 6-19, and their season figured to end when they met fourth-ranked Forest Park in the quarterfinals. But Maxwell scored 24 points in M.L. King’s 37-36 upset victory, eliminating the Panthers from the postseason. Forest Park, which finished season 21-5, had beaten the Lions 72-30 a week earlier.
After the Lions lost to Tucker in the semifinals, Maxwell scored 34 points in a 64-61 overtime victory over Stephenson that gave M.L. King the No. 3 seed for the state tournament. The Lions will take on Region 3 runner-up Greenbrier on Friday. It will be M.L. King’s first appearance in the state playoffs since 2010.
Maxwell, the Region 4 co-player of the year along with Lovejoy’s Genesis Bryant, is averaging 23.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.6 steals and 2.6 assists.
She has scored 1,955 points in her career, the most by any DeKalb County girl in the past 15 seasons. Only four boys players, led by Miller Grove’s Mfon Udofia (2,479), have scored more during that stretch.
Maxwell’s 648 points this season rank fifth among girls since 1982. She trails Avondale’s Sherbiya Morris (791), Clarkston’s Sheletheia Lumpkin (720), Columbia’s Takisha Ward (664) and Clarkston’s Sonja Yarbrough (655). Maxwell would move to third on that list with at least 17 points against Greenbrier.
Maxwell averaged 13.6 points as a freshman, 19.3 as a sophomore and 22.2 last season.
The 5-foot-8 guard is receiving interest from colleges including Western Carolina, Jacksonville, North Carolina A&T, Florida A&M, Augusta, Charleston Southern, Winthrop and Lane.
Here are some other things to watch in the first round of the state tournament, which will be played Friday and Saturday at the sites of the higher-seeded teams:
*The favorites: The Hughes boys and the Lovejoy girls have been ranked No. 1 for most of the season. Hughes is the defending state champion. The Panthers (22-5) have won seven consecutive games and lost just once to another Class AAAAAA school, a 70-66 loss to Region 5 opponent Alexander on Jan. 9. Lovejoy's only loss this season was a 56-53 setback against Region 4 rival Stephenson on Dec. 16. The Wildcats (27-1) enter the state tournament with an 18-game winning streak. Lovejoy reached the semifinals for the first time in school history last season.
*Other teams to watch: Gainesville's boys are the hottest team around. The second-ranked Red Elephants (20-6) have won 17 consecutive games since a 3-6 start, and they rolled to the Region 8 championship last week, winning their two tournament games by an average of 20.5 points. For the girls, No. 2 Winder-Barrow (22-4) was the state runner-up in 2016 and No. 3 Harrison (22-4) lost in the final last year, each by one point. Expect both to be factors again this year, although Winder-Barrow has the tougher path. The Bulldogs could meet No. 1 Lovejoy in the quarterfinals. The highest-ranked opponent on Harrison's side of the bracket would be No. 5 Lanier in the semifinals.
*Top boys game: Eighth-ranked Creekview (23-4) lost just one region game in the regular season, but a 52-44 loss to fifth-seeded Sprayberry in the Region 6 semifinals dropped the Grizzlies to the No. 3 seed for the state playoffs. That sends Creekview on the road for its first-round game against seventh-ranked Douglas County (21-6). The Tigers have won five of their past six games, and three of their losses this season have come against Hughes, including 73-51 in the Region 5 championship game on Saturday.
*Top girls game: Alpharetta dropped out of the top 10 after a 40-39 loss to Pope in the Region 7 semifinals. However, the Raiders are a strong No. 3 seed at 21-5 and represent a considerable challenge for fifth-ranked Lanier (21-6), the Region 8 runner-up. Lanier lost to second-ranked Winder-Barrow 59-38 in the region championship game, but it also handed the Bulldoggs one of their four losses this season. The Longhorns are making their first appearance in the state tournament.
*Worth noting: All of last year's final four boys teams – Hughes, Brunswick, South Cobb and Allatoona – are on the right side of the bracket, so at least two won't make it back to the semifinals, and at least three won't make it to the final. Hughes and Allatoona play each other in the first round. On the girls' side, one noticeable absence is defending state champion. The Raiders, who were eliminated by South Paulding in the Region 5 quarterfinals, missed the state tournament for the first time since 2013.
*State tournament first-round matchups
Boys
(R6 #3) Creekview at (R5 #2) Douglas County
(R8 #4) Apalachee at (R7 #1) North Atlanta
(R2 #3) Bradwell Institute at (R1 #2) Valdosta
(R4 #4) Drew at (R3 #1) Heritage-Conyers
(R5 #3) Alexander at (R6 #2) Sprayberry
(R7 #4) Pope at (R8 #1) Gainesville
(R1 #3) Lee County at (R2 #2) Richmond Hill
(R3 #4) Lakeside-Evans at (R4 #1) Stephenson
(R8 #3) Lanier at (R7 #2) Cambridge
(R6 #4) Allatoona at (R5 #1) Hughes
(R4 #3) Tucker at (R3 #2) Grovetown
(R2 #4) Effingham County at (R1 #1) Coffee
(R7 #3) Alpharetta at (R8 #2) Dacula
(R5 #4) Tri-Cities at (R6 #1) South Cobb
(R3 #3) Evans at (R4 #2) Jonesboro
(R1 #4) Northside-Warner Robins at (R2 #1) Brunswick
Girls
(R6 #3) Sequoyah at (R5 #2) New Manchester
(R8 #4) Gainesville at (R7 #1) Northview
(R2 #3) Brunswick at (R1 #2) Coffee
(R4 #4) Stephenson at (R3 #1) Heritage-Conyers
(R5 #3) Alexander at (R6 #2) Creekview
(R7 #4) Johns Creek at (R8 #1) Winder-Barrow
(R1 #3) Northside-Warner Robins at (R2 #2) Glynn Academy
(R3 #4) Lakeside-Evans at (R4 #1) Lovejoy
(R8 #3) Dacula at (R7 #2) Pope
(R6 #4) River Ridge at (R5 #1) Douglas County
(R4 #3) M.L. King at (R3 #2) Greenbrier
(R2 #4) Richmond Hill at (R1 #1) Valdosta
(R7 #3) Alpharetta at (R8 #2) Lanier
(R5 #4) South Paulding at (R6 #1) Harrison
(R3 #3) Grovetown at (R4 #2) Tucker
(R1 #4) Houston County at (R2 #1) Bradwell Institute
