It took a few minutes for the Norcross offense to get rolling in the girls Class AAAAA championship game at Gwinnett Arena on Friday.
Once it did, there was nothing McEachern could do to slow it down.
The Blue Devils outscored McEachern 23-2 over a six-minute span to start the second quarter and cruised to a 61-36 victory to capture their second consecutive state title. The 25-point margin was the most lopsided girls final in the state’s highest classification since Wheeler beat East Coweta 67-36 in 1998.
Norcross’ championship is the eighth in 11 years for Gwinnett County in Class AAAAA. And it is the fifth state title for Blue Devils coach Angie Hembree, who also led Collins Hill to championships in 2001, 2002 and 2005.
Diamond DeShields was the offensive star for Norcross (29-3), finishing with a game-high 27 points. The sophomore scored on jumpers, layups, putbacks and alley-oops and made two 3-pointers and a free throw. Her first 3-pointer, with 1:16 remaining in the first quarter, gave Norcross its first lead of the game. About the only thing she lacked was a dunk. It appeared she wanted to try on two fourth-quarter breakaways, although she said she didn’t even think about it.
More important, she scored 14 points during the decisive run and had 20 of the Blue Devils’ first 29 points.
Not lost on Hembree was the performance of senior forward Dearica Hamby, who finished with six points and was credited by the Norcross coaching staff with 19 rebounds. And she ignited the second-quarter onslaught with consecutive layups that gave Norcross a 13-9 lead that it never relinquished.
“They passed the ball instead of dribbling so doggone much,” Hembree said of her team’s play in the second quarter. “I’m telling you, though, Dearica’s 19 boards were really the difference for us. Diamond had a great game and did a great job, and the seniors did a great job. But I’m telling you right now that those boards were huge.”
After Hamby’s two layups, DeShields made a 3-pointer to make it 16-9 and led McEachern to call a timeout. A layup by Alex DeMercy and two by DeShields made it 22-9 one minute later, and McEachern called another timeout.
But the damage had been done. McEachern (25-7) never got within 13 points the rest of the way.
DeShields was the only Blue Devil to reach double figures, although nine players scored. Patches Roberts led McEachern with 14 points and Dominique Wilson had 10.
“I just want to go to the beach,” Hembree said when asked if she was thinking about a three-peat. “I’m ready for a vacation, and then we’ll talk about, you know... I just want them to enjoy this.”
About the Author
