Wilcox County girls win rematch for back-to-back state titles

The Wilcox County girls basketball had averaged 70 points per game in its first four playoff victories, but coach Santita Coon knew it would be a different kind of game when the Patriots met Washington-Wilkes in a state-finals rematch Thursday at the Macon Coliseum.

After all, Washington-Wilkes had found success suffocating other teams’ offenses, allowing just 36 points per game in its four playoff wins.

Wilcox County fell in between those marks Thursday, scoring its fewest points in almost a month but getting enough for a 48-39 victory to win its second consecutive GHSA Class A Division II championship in a matchup of the classification’s two top-ranked teams.

No. 1 Wilcox County (29-1) ended the season on a 21-game winning streak, suffering its only loss on Jan. 3 against Fitzgerald. Second-ranked Washington-Wilkes (21-8), which lost to Wilcox County 72-48 in last year’s final, won 19 of its final 21 games since starting the season 2-6.

“They play that matchup zone and we always like to play fast, so they slowed us down,” Coon said. “They gave us a little bit of trouble. But we knew that we could pressure them and force them to make some turnovers and that if we could keep our turnovers down we would eventually win, maybe not at that margin of 20 or 30, but a one-point win’s as good as a 25-point win.”

Tyliah Benjamin scored 10 points in the first quarter and gave the Patriots a lead they would never surrender when she made a layup less than two minutes into the game to make it 4-2. Wilcox County led by as many as nine points in the first half.

Trailing 20-13 at halftime, Washington-Wilkes scored the first six points of the third quarter, cutting the lead to 20-19 on a layup by Kaidyn Porter, but Wilcox County regained control with a 9-2 run over the next two minutes.

Washington-Wilkes closed the gap to 44-39 on a jump shot by Porter with 2:26 remaining but did not score again, and the Patriots scored the game’s final four points for the nine-point victory margin.

Benjamin finished with 20 points, 14 rebounds, five blocks and three steals.

“She was our double-double queen tonight,” Coon said. “Tyliah worked this week in practice. We were on her about knocking down that free-throw jumper, and on her about putting the ball on the floor. She’s told us all year, ‘I can’t do it,’ It told her that she can do it, and tonight she showed us that she can do it.”

Shamauri Martin added 14 points, 10 rebounds and four steals for the Patriots.

Samaria Young led Washington-Wilkes with 15 points and had six rebounds.