The South Atlanta girls had a lot to prove when they journeyed to Decatur High on Friday night. The No. 5-ranked Hornets were undefeated, but didn’t really have a signature win against a high quality opponent.
They have one now.
Coach Akisha Graham’s team survived with a 53-51 win over No. 4 Decatur, a victory that means a lot.
“These girls really wanted this because they were ranked one spot ahead of us,” Graham said.
It was a tight game from the opening tip. South Atlanta battled from behind all night, but never by more than six points. Each time Decatur seemed to be making its move, South Atlanta would counter.
“It was like a heavyweight fight,” Decatur coach Sarah Coleman said.
South Atlanta (17-0) took the lead for keeps with 16.5 seconds left. Kierra Johnson-Graham drove the lane and made a three-point play to give the Hornets a 52-50 lead.
Decatur’s Kierra Edge got the Bulldogs (17-2) to within a point by making one of two free throws and South Atlanta’s Kaylan West made one of two free throws with 5.1 seconds remaining to again set the lead to two points.
Decatur managed to get the ball in the corner to Jayla Morrow, but her jumper bounced off the rim as the horn sounded.
Morrow scored 17 points and surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career midway in the fourth period.
Johnson-Graham scored 19 points and had 12 rebounds for South Atlanta, which also got 16 points off the bench from Takira Lindley and 10 points and six rebounds from Erica Gibbons.
“We can do a lot of learning from this,” Coleman said. “It was a close game in the fourth quarter and we did an OK job. This gives us some ammunition for the region tournament.”
It marks the only regular-season game between the two team, who are on opposite sides of Region 4-AAA.
In other games played Friday night:
Girls
Pelham 70, Kendrick 61: Class AA No. 2 Pelham got 25 points from Briunna Freeman and knocked of Class AAA No. 1 Kendrick 70-61, ending the Cherokees' 43-game winning streak.
Pelham (16-1) also got 14 points from Breanna Hudson. Kendrick (18-1) were led by Brittany Thompson and Taylor Farlye with 15 each and Mariah Igus with 13.
Laney 57, Washington County 51: The No. 3-ranked Wildcats(15-2) got 18 points from De'Sha Benjamin and 17 from Allyah Collier, who hit three 3-pointers, and held off a furious fourth-quarter rally from the No. 10 Golden Hawks (11-5). Washington County's Nia Johnson scored 18 and Daknequa White added 14.
Johnson 62, Pierce County 42: Symarieona Williams scored 20 of her 26 points in the second half to pace the Atom Smashers (11-5). Phila Bryant scored 22 for Pierce County (8-5).
Savannah 46, Dodge County 41: Milenah Doswell scored 16 to help the Blue Jackets upset No. 8 Dodge County in Eastman.
Pepperell 61, Callaway 38: Madison Wilder scored 16 points, including the 1,000th of her career, to lead the Dragons (11-6).
Banks County 53, West Hall 49: Kaitlyn Duncan scored 22 points help the Leopards improve to 17-2.
Boys
Central Macon 92, Rutland 85: Antarius McCoy scored 23 points and Derrick Adams scored 23 to lead the Chargers (11-6) to the upset . Ty'lik Evans scored 24 to pace No. 7 Rutland (16-2). Central led by 11 points going into the fourth quarter, but Rutland cut the lead to two points with two minutes remaining. That's when Kentrevious Jones knocked in a 3-pointer to kill the Rutland rally.
Jenkins 55, Tattnall County 45: Kevin Ford scored 14 and Eric Johnson added 13 as the No. 2 Warriors improved to 13-3. Tattnall (13-5) got 11 points from LaDarius Kelly.
Banks County 76, West Hall 48: Austin Venable scored 29 points, including the 1,000th of his career, and added 15 rebounds for the Leopards (16-3).
