Tucker's Morgan Collins drives during second half action of the Class 6A girls' state championship against McEachern. (Photo by Mark Brock)

Tucker’s Morgan Collins drives during second half action of the Class 6A girls’ state championship against McEachern. (Photo by Mark Brock)

Two-time defending champion McEachern took advantage of 29 second half trips to the free-throw line to pull away from the Tucker Lady Tigers for a 71-51 win in the Class 6A girls’ state championship game at Macon on Saturday night.

McEachern held a 29-24 lead at the half and opened the third period with a 7-0 run to put some distance between the two teams.

Jada Lewis’ three-pointer was big as the Lady Indians (25-7) would expand the lead to 12 (36-24) with 6:25 to play in the quarter.

Tucker tried to answer on a three-pointer by Najla Shamsid-Deen and drive by Jayla Morrow to cut the lead to 38-29.

McEachern put together another 7-0 run to push the advantage back out to 45-31 on a Tierra Lindsey basket with 2:51 left in the quarter.

Bria Bass had a three-point play to trim it back to 11 (47-36) with 1:34 remaining in the quarter, but consecutive baskets by Lindsey and Chanel Wilson sent the Lady Indians into the fourth quarter with a 51-37 lead.

Tucker's Quinlan Hughes defends against McEachern during the Class 6A girls' state championship game. (Photo by Mark Brock)

Tucker’s Quinlan Hughes defends against McEachern during the Class 6A girls’ state championship game. (Photo by Mark Brock)

McEachern would hit 13 of 21 free throws in the fourth quarter to continue to pull away to secure its third consecutive state title.

Shamsid-Deen helped the Tucker Lady Tigers calm down late in the first half with McEachern leading 27-17 with 2:02 left in the half as 12 Tucker turnovers contributed to the 10-point deficit.

Shamsid-Deen drove to the basket to cut the lead to 27-19 and then got fouled chasing a loose ball with 1:39 to play and hit both free throws to cut the lead to 27-21.

Jasmine Clements scored for McEachern to make it 29-21 and Shamsid-Deen came back to hit a three with 1:06 to play to trim it to 29-24.

McEachern then went into a stall game and with eight seconds left Kierra Johnson-Graham made a steal and a long three rimmed out at the buzzer.

Shamsid-Deen finished with a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds while Morrow was tied with the team-high 15 points and Kierra Johnson-Graham pulled down 12 rebounds.

Jasmine Clements had a game-high 17 points to lead McEachern while Que Morrison added 14 points and 11 rebounds and Jada Lewis finished with 12.