Wheeler will induct two former basketball standouts into its athletic hall of fame next Friday. Dottie Saye (Class of 1980) and D.A. Layne (1998) will be a part of the Cobb County school's third class of inductees. Neither player led their teams to state titles during their careers, but Saye went on to play at Vanderbilt, where her 31-point performance against Alabama in 1981 is still the third-most points ever scored by a player against the Crimson Tide. Saye is a coach and multicultural literature teacher at Lassiter. Layne made the SEC all-freshman team at Georgia in 1999, is the Bulldogs' career leader for most 3-pointers and is ninth all-time in scoring. He played professionally for several seasons in Latin America.
Girls basketball
Arabia Mountain, a new Class AAA school in DeKalb County, is 8-4 while playing a non-region schedule. Head coach Sharon Richard's team has already won the national division of the DeKalb County Holiday Basketball Tournament with a 52-41 victory against Lithonia. ... Pace Academy guard Kaitlyn Dinkins, a 5-foot-6 junior, has attempted more 3-pointers (55) than 2-pointers (35). She's converting 40 percent on 3-point shots and averaging 16 points a game. ... Bradwell Institute's Mariah Maternik, a junior point guard, is the state's leader – boy or girl – in assists with 130, good for an average of nearly eight. She is also averaging 16 points for the Tigers, whose only loss was to Rockdale County in overtime last month.
Boys basketball
Rockdale County is ranked No. 1 in Class AAAA behind two senior players who helped lead the football team on its run to the state semifinals. Isaiah Gresham, a 6-2 guard/forward, was the Bulldogs' quarterback and Byron Lawrence, a 6-4 forward, played safety. Rockdale County is 18-1 and undefeated in Georgia. ... David Mason, a senior guard at Chamblee, is averaging more than 30 points a game and has three of the top 10 individual scoring performances in the state this season, including 35 points in a victory over North Springs. Fellow senior guard Langston Hall made seven 3-point shots in a blowout victory against Stephenson. ... Southwest DeKalb's William Goodwin, a 6-8 sophomore, is in the top 15 in DeKalb County in six performance categories, including first in rebounding (10 per game) and blocks (six). Goodwin also averages 14 points and nearly five assists. ... Wilkinson County (17-0) is ranked No. 2 in Class A and is winning by an average margin of more than 20 points. The team is led by 6-6 senior forward Fitzgerald White, who is averaging 25 points.
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