In just six seasons at Columbia in Dekalb County, Chantay Frost built a three-time state champion program based on young ladies being “beauties” off the court and “beasts” on it. She’s doing the same thing across town at Mays in Atlanta.
After finishing just two games above .500 (12-10) last year in her first season on “The Hill” in Southwest Atlanta, Frost’s Raiders (26-2), winners of Class AAAAA-Region 5, advanced to the semi finals with a 47-25 win over Gainesville (22-9), the No. 3 seed from Region 8. Mays will face the Loganville-Dutchtown winner, Saturday evening in Ft. Valley.
At Mays, a program with a winning tradition and a Class AAAA state title in 2003, Frost is implementing the same formula she used to win state titles in 2010, 2012 and 2013 at Columbia. Case in point: In the Raiders’ team picture, the players are wearing white dresses and pumps instead of basketball uniforms.
But don’t let the matching white headbands and powder blue socks and basketball shoes fool you. Mays plays with a tenacious discipline on both ends of the floor.
“Our motto is ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ “ Frost said.
The Raiders can press, trap and run with the best teams in the state, thanks to the athleticism and skill of guards Kennya Sims, a junior, and Kamiyah Street and Kendall Pack, both sophomores. But they can also dominate inside with junior forward Gina Smith and 6-2 senior Harlyn Wyatt, who eclipsed 1,000 points for her career in Tuesday night’s win, along with 6-5 senior reserve center Kennedy Rushin.
“We could run up and down the floor and be successful,” Frost said. “But in winning three state championships I learned that in the playoffs you have to be able to play in the half court.”
The Raiders did just that in the opening minutes against Gainesville, with Street and Pack looking to dump the ball inside to Wyatt. When the Red Elephants packed it in on Wyatt, Mays’ guards hit short jumpers and runners. When the defense extended a bit, they found Wyatt inside. After Gainesville took a 2-0, Mays went on a 8-0 run to take an 8-2 lead midway through the first quarter.
“Usually they are very impatient offensively” Frost said of her players. “But they have been learning to slow down and look for the best shot on every possession.”
Gainesville, which loss to the Raiders 68-41 in a season opening tournament at Norcross in November, did not make the 90-minute trip to Atlanta just to lie down for Mays. Junior guard Breana Fair came off the bench early to provide a spark, coming up with a steal while knocking down a deep three-pointer and a short runner along the baseline to help Gainesville close the gap to 14-11 at the end of the first quarter.
But Mays turned up the heat on both ends in the second quarter to essentially put the game away. The Raiders went on a 9-0 run, converting three Gainesville turnovers into seven points, to take a 23-11 lead after two free throws by Smith. Mays held the Red Elephants to just two points in the period, and went into the locker room with a 27-13 lead at the half.
Gainesville would get no closer than 14 points in the second half, as Mays dictated the tempo. On some possessions the Raiders pushed the ball and applied full court pressure on defense. On others, they fell back into a zone on defense and spread the floor on offense, eating up more than two minutes of clock midway through the third quarter.
Mays’ balanced attack was paced by Wyatt, who led all scorers with 13 points, while Smith and Street chipped in with 12 apiece. Fair led Gainesville with 10 points.
“We spent 30 minutes on that in practice,” Frost said. “It was good to see us be patient and execute. The good thing about us is we can play any style and that is something you need to be able to do in order to be successful in the playoffs.”
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