There were five consecutive semifinal games played at Georgia College between Friday and Saturday decided in the 20-point range, but the sixth featured an exciting, back-and-forth exchange in which Windsor Forest edged Thomson 60-53 to reach its first title game in a program that dates to the mid-1960s.
The No. 6 Knights (23-5) broke through after reaching the semis in two of the previous three seasons and will play No. 5 Cross Creek (24-6) in the state championship, which takes place 3 p.m. Friday at the Macon Coliseum.
The Knights took the lead for good on junior Donte Dorman’s 3-pointer with 3:03 remaining, which put them ahead 48-46. The No. 2 Bulldogs (23-4) would go on a 7-1 run to pull to within 54-53 with three minutes left, but Knights senior Javonte Landy and Dorman answered with consecutive scores, with Dorman’s giving Windsor Forest a 58-53 lead with 38 seconds left.
With time running out, the Bulldogs raced down the court and forced an errant 3 on their next possession, and the Knights rebounded. In transition, 6-foot-4 senior Abasi Scott wound up with the ball and an open lane, then darted to the rim for a two-handed slam with 22 seconds left, bringing the the score to its final margin and sending his team into celebration mode.
“It felt great because we’ve been working at this all year” said Scott, who finished with nine points. “I knew the game was over (after the dunk).”
The Bulldogs’ final possession ended with another missed 3, and the Knights ran out the final seconds from there.
Thompson jumped ahead early took a 25-20 lead into the second quarter when the Bulldogs’ Tramon D’Antignac rattled in a long, buzzer-beating 3 from just inside the logo. From that point forward, the Knights stayed within three points of Thompson’s lead before Dorman’s 3-pointer erased it.
“We’ve been fighting all year,” said Knights coach Aaron Clark said, whose team is 8-3 this season in games decided by six points or less. “All season, with our schedule, it was all about getting to this point. So we played in as many big games as we possibly could. We went to Atlanta (to play in holiday tournaments) and got beat down a little bit (they went 1-2 against Atlanta area teams), but we played a lot of good teams, and we were prepared for this moment.”
D’Ante Bass, a 6-foot-7 senior post committed to Georgetown, led the Knights with 13 points and six rebounds. Landy scored 11, and senior Mike Cabellero added nine.
Thomson’s Lavonta Ivery led all scorers with 18 points and teammate Ty Braswell added 13.
Cross Creek 52, Beach 43
The defending champion Razorbacks are back in the 3A title game after ending the Bulldogs’ remarkable run, led by Antoine Lorick’s game-high 20 points.
The No. 5 Razorbacks (25-6) led most of the game, but the Bulldogs — as they had all season — refused to go away, keeping within striking distance until 4:06 remaining, when 6-foot-6 junior and versatile wing Shamarrie Hugie fouled out. With him gone, the Bulldogs lost their best rebounder and one of their best scorers. His absence helped facilitate an 11-2 Razorbacks run that closed the game.
The Razorbacks got three consecutive offensive rebounds on missed free throws with Hugie gone, and that allowed them to keep possession on their end of the court for a critical stretch in the game’s waning minutes.
“Those guys they’ve got over there (at Beach) play extremely tough,” Razorbacks coach Lawrence Kelly said. “(Hugie and Larry Johnson) are extremely good players, and they’ve got great athletes on top of that. Their coach (Simon Heyward) did a great job of keeping them in the game. We were able to pull it out at the end.”
For the unranked Bulldogs (16-9), their ride is over as one of two No. 4 seeds, regardless of classification or gender, that reached the semifinals, and they’ll come up two wins short of their second title since 1967.
Hugie and sophomore guard Larry Johnson each paced the Bulldogs with 15 points.
GIRLS
Credit: Adam Krohn
Credit: Adam Krohn
Lumpkin County 64, Westminster 42
The Indians are a win away from their first title in program history after using a barrage of first-half 3-pointers to build a double-digit lead, then kept the Wildcats at arm’s length in the second half to win by 22.
The top-ranked Indians (29-1) will play No. 5 GAC (25-6) in the 3A championship, which takes place 1 p.m. Friday at the Macon Coliseum.
Westminster (17-11) scored the game’s first points on Sydney Moore’s field goal, then the teams traded points, with Wesleyan leading 11-10 with 3:00 left in the first quarter. That’s when the Indians caught fire, using four 3-pointers — including a bank-shot from Mary Mullinax — as part of an 28-10 run that gave them a 37-20 halftime lead.
In the first half, the Indians hit six 3s to Westminster’s one. Most shot attempts came in transition from either a man press or their rebounding edge with post Kate Jackson, who even stepped behind the 3-point line and drilled one herself, giving the Indians an 18-11 lead with 50 seconds left in the first quarter.
The team chemistry between juniors Mullinax, Jackson, and Lexi Pierce, and sophomore Averie Jones, was evident. They were the only scorers for the Indians, with Pierce’s 20 points leading the way, followed by Mullinax (16) and Jackson and Jones (14 each).
“We’ve been playing together since we were 5, and we just click instantly,” Pierce said.
The Wildcats fought to within 41-30 with 2:22 left in the third quarter, but the Indians quickly built their lead back to 54-35 with 5:15 left in the game.
Unranked and champions of Region 5, the Wildcats were led by junior Courtney Ogden’s game-high 24 points. Ogden, a 6-foot-1 guard-forward, is a 5-star and the country’s No. 12 overall player for the Class of 2023, according to ESPN. She committed to Stanford in November.
“I think they’ve got a superstar, I think we’ve got a great team,” Indians coach David Dowse said. “Ogden is a fantastic talent. She’s going to get her points, but weren’t going to let anyone else score, and for the most part, that happened. We said we were going to rebound, defend and run, and I really believe there’s no one in 3A that, when we can get out and run, can run with us.”
GAC 66, Pierce County 46
A third straight Spartans trip to the championship was never in doubt as they dominated the Bears from start to finish. Senior Kaleigh Addie notched a game-high 22 points, including 6-for-6 free throw shooting and 8-for-11 shooting from the field, and added four assists and three steals. Her teammates, junior Trinity Thomas (19 points on 6-for-11 shooting, including 2-for-2 from 3-point range) and senior Jaci Bolden (17 points, two blocks, two steals), also contributed.
If the Spartans beat Lumpkin County Friday, it will mark their second title in three seasons and 10th overall, dating to 1974.
GAC led 16-7 after the first, 31-22 at halftime and 48-36 after three. In the fourth quarter, the Spartans’ lead ballooned to 22 on the game’s final basket, made by senior reserve Autumn Clark with 22 seconds remaining.
As a team, the Spartans shot 52.2 percent from the field on 24-of-46 shooting and were 13-for-15 from the free-throw line. They outrebounded the Bears 27-14.
“If we play our game, we feel like we’re pretty difficult to beat,” Spartans coach Jessica Guarneri said. “We always want to start the game defensively, and Trinity Thomas did an unbelievable job for us today. We let that lead to our offense, and offensively, when you got a kid like Kaleigh Addie or Jaci Bolden, it makes it very difficult to defend us. The game plan is always to move the ball enough to pick the best shot, and we don’t care who scores.”
They have one final challenge against the Indians, who looked strong in their decisive win over Westminster.
“Lumpkin is phenomenal,” Guarneri said. “They can do a little bit of everything, and they do it all very well. They’re going to be extremely effective on the 3-point line and moving off screens, their defense is tight — they do a great job helping and switching on defense — and so Lumpkin is the team to beat. We hope to do it.”
The No. 7 Bears (24-6), champions of Region 1, were led by senior Natalie Herrin’s 22 points.
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