The two remaining games in the Class 3A basketball season are, well, state-championship worthy.
On the boys side, the basketball season is ending just like the football season did: it’s Sandy Creek vs. Cedar Grove in an all-Region 5 final.
On the girls side, one of the legendary coaches in state history, Jan Azar, is trying to build another dynasty at Hebron Christian after leading Wesleyan to 13 state titles.
She won the 2021 Class A Private championship with Hebron, but to capture her second title with the Lions, she will have to upend defending-champion Lumpkin County.
Let’s take a look at each teams below:
Boys: R5 #1 No. 2 Sandy Creek (25-6) vs. R5 #2 No. 7 Cedar Grove (20-9)
Sandy Creek Patriots
Ranked at the top the class the entire season, Sandy Creek is trying for the program’s first championship after beating two-time defending-champion Cross Creek 62-44 in the semifinals.
The Patriots floor leader is 6-foot-8 junior forward Micah Smith.
“Our depth is fueled by our love for each other,” Smith said after Friday’s semifinal victory against Cross Creek at Fort Valley State. “We are all blood. That’s what makes this work, the love we got.”
Smith gave insight into the team’s outlook and game plan after losing in the second round last season to state runner-up Windsor Forest 47-37.
“We just had to come in every game we walked into like we were playing Cross Creek,” Smith said. “We could not take anything lightly through the whole season, and we were playing games and practicing like it was a final four game all season.”
Smith scored 16 points to lead a trio of Patriots players in double-figures in the semis. Junior P.J. Green finished with 13 points, and senior Vic Newsome scored 10.
Sandy Creek has beaten Ringgold 100-57, Wesleyan 68-22, No. 2 Johnson-Savannah 56-50 and Cross Creek. Sandy Creek has faced Cedar Grove three times this season and won 91-56, 71-48 and 76-52.
“When we got to the semifinals, it was nothing new,” Smith said. “We go hard all the time.”
Cedar Grove Saints
Cedar Grove will have to play a next-to-perfect game to beat top-ranked Sandy Creek, and it still might not be enough.
But after the team’s 61-46 victory against Douglass in the semifinals, Cedar Grove is savoring the program’s first championship appearance since it won the Class 2A title in 1997.
Tempo and rhythm fuel Cedar Grove, but in the semifinals, it took some settling down for the Saints to take control.
“Douglass is a great shooting team, and we knew we just had to shut that down and execute on defense,” sophomore E.J. Colson said. “My guys were talking and once we got settled down, we felt good.”
A halftime talk from coach Kendrick Callier provided insight into the Saints’ game plan in any close contest.
“We went into halftime, and I told our guys to settle down,” Callier said. “We already knew their plans. They are a hard-playing team, and I told them to take care of the ball, sit back and play disciplined defense and let them give it to you.”
Colson, the quarterback of the Saints’ state runner-up football team, is a 6-foot point guard who scored 13 points against Douglass. Other offensive threats are 5-9 senior guard Jaylen Adside, 6-6 senior power forward Darius Reynolds and 6-5 freshman shooting guard Emmanuel Green.
Girls: R7 #2 No. 3 Lumpkin County (26-4) vs. R8 #1 No. 1 Hebron Christian (31-0)
Lumpkin County Indians
Lumpkin County enters the game as the defending-champions after the program’s first-ever title last season, when it beat Greater Atlanta Christian 51-46.
The entire program is about one thing: Lumpkin County. The team has been playing together since they were kids and with no out-of-Lumpkin players on the roster, according to head coach David Dowse, the connection has been paramount to the success of the program.
“These girls have been together so long,” Dowse said after Lumpkin’s 78-31 semifinal victory against Calvary Day at Fort Valley State. “When you have a senior come on the floor who doesn’t play that much and she scores two baskets and our bench erupts when we are up 50 points, that’s family.”
Averie Jones, a 5-foot-6 junior shooting guard, Lexi Pierce, a 5-5 senior point guard, Mary Mullinax, a 5-10 senior shooting forward and Kate Jackson, a 5-11 senior power forward, account for a majority of Lumpkin’s offensive production.
Against Calvary Day, the four accounted for 71 of the team’s 78 points – Jones (21 points), Mullinax (20), Pierce (18) and Jackson (12). The Indians, which entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed from Region 7 behind Wesleyan, have beaten Oconee County 72-47, Lakeview Fort Oglethorpe 68-32, Cross Creek 63-48 and Calvary Day to return to the championship game.
Hebron Christian Lions
Head coach Jan Azar, who is in her fourth season coaching Hebron, knows what it means to win championships. She led the Hebron girls to its first state title in 2021 and last season, Hebron lost out in the championship game to Mount Paran 54-49.
Now -- 31 consecutive victories later -- the girls are back.
“Our girls are hungry,” Azar said after the Lions’ 65-58 semifinal victory against Wesleyan at Fort Valley State. “They want to go back and finish that from last year. But we are going to enjoy this now. We are going to enjoy the weekend.”
The victory against Wesleyan was sweet for Azar, who coached the Wolves to 13 state championships before taking the Hebron job. There are key players, like sophomore Audrey Beckham, junior guard Amiya Porter and junior wing Nickya Daniel, but depth is a valued asset for Hebron.
Against Wesleyan, 5-foot-10 junior Kayla Lane displayed a solid 3-point shooting performance scoring 14 points with four 3-point shots.
“Everyone focuses on Audrey or Amiya or Nickiya,” Azar said. “But that freed up areas for players to make shots, and Kayla Lane stepped up. She has been at Hebron for a long time. She played middle-school ball there before I got here, and her 3-point shots were the difference in the game.”
Hebron has beaten White County 68-53, Carver-Atlanta 75-23, Mary Persons 98-25 and Wesleyan.
Class 3A state championship games
Friday at Macon Centreplex
1 p.m. – Girls: Lumpkin County vs. Hebron Christian
3 p.m. – Boys: Sandy Creek vs. Cedar Grove
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