Southwest DeKalb’s Chantz Cherry (10) drives against Flowery Branch’s Caroline Wysocki (3) during the Panthers come-from-behind 66-63 win. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Trailing throughout the second and third quarters the No. 2 ranked Southwest DeKalb Lady Panthers turned up the defense to go on an 8-0 run to open the fourth quarter on the way to a 66-63 Class 5A Girls’ Final Four victory over the Flowery Branch Falcons at Columbus State on Saturday afternoon.
Flowery Branch (24-7) was leading 47-44 heading into the fourth quarter on a Caroline Wysocki drive to the basket in the final minute of the third quarter.
Southwest DeKalb (27-4) turned up the defense and went to the boards on the offensive end of court to put together the 8-0 run behind four points from a hustling Kennedy Mormom. Mormom opened the final stanza with an offensive rebound of her own miss and after a pair of free throws by Chantz Cherry ran out on Cherry’s steal and took the pass for a layup.
Ruona Owusiaba ended the run with an offensive put back of her own to give the Lady Panthers a 52-47 lead with 5:08 to play.
The Falcons got some offensive rebounding of their own and tied the game at 54-54 on Juliane Sutton’s two free throws following grabbing the offensive rebound.
The game was tied again at 57-57 when Jada Walton was fouled on a drive with 2:42 to play. Walton hit both of the 1+1 free throws to give the Panthers the lead for good at 59-57.
Uwusiaba would hit two free throws and Desiray Coulter would hit three of four to made it a 64-59 game with 31 seconds to play.
Walton and Owusiaba would both hit one of two from the line in the final 11 seconds to keep Flowery Branch at bey despite a pair of offensive put backs by Sutton.
Flowery Branch and Taniyah Worth controlled the game for much of the middle two quarters after taking an 18-15 lead on a three-pointer by Caroline Wysocki near the end of the first quarter.
The Falcons led 32-23 with 2:36 to play in the first half, but Walton went on a run of 8 points in the final 2:05 to close the gap to 35-31 at the half.
Walton finished with 24 points to lead the Panthers while Uwusiaba added 13 and 7 rebounds to go with 10 points from Cherry.
Worth finished with a game-high 29 to lead Flowery Branch and Julianne Sutton added 10.
The Panthers move into their 8th championship appearance in the past 10 seasons. The defending state champs face Buford (28-2), an 88-50 winner over Griffin, on Wednesday at 6:00 pm at UGA’s Stegman Coliseum.
Miller Grove’s Joshua Jackmon (24) defends against Cedar Shoals player during the Wolverines Final Four loss at Columbus State. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Class 5A Boys’ Semifinal
A 15-0 run by Cedar Shoals in the first half put Miller Grove in a big hole the Wolverines could never climb out of as the Wolverines ended their season with a 59-38 loss in the Class 5A Boys’ State semifinals at Columbus State on Saturday afternoon,
George Wilson’s three-pointer with 2:19 left in the first quarter gave the Wolverines (21-8) a 7-5 advantage and their only lead of the game.
The Jaguars (27-4) would start the 15-0 run as Philandrous Fleming drove the baseline for a reverse layup to tie the game with 2:06 left in the quarter. Fleming would end the first quarter on a deep three-pointer from out front to give his team a 14-7 lead heading into the second quarter.
A three-point play by Fleming followed by a three-pointer by Arthur Jones extended the Jaguars’ lead to 13 (20-7) before the Wolverines ended a five minute and 24 second scoring drought on a Joshua Jackmon layup with 4:42 to play in the first half.
Fleming would hit another trey and Jai’Vanni McDavid would add a pair of free throws as Cedar Grove continued to pull away up 26-9 with 1:33 left in the first half.
The Jaguars headed to half up 29-12.
Stavion Stevenson took over to start the second half hitting for six points in a quick 8-1 run to start the second half to push the lead out to 24 (37-13) with 4:16 left in the third period.
Jermon Clark had a pair of baskets and Maurice Harvey had a steal on an inbounds as the Wolverines cut a 26-point deficit to 20 at 42-22 before Stevenson’s offensive put back sent the Jaguars into the fourth quarter up 44-22.
Fleming, who finished with a game-high 25 points, hit for 10 points in the fourth quarter to finish out the game for the Jaguars.
Maurice Harvey finished with 10 points to lead the Wolverines who suffered just their second Final Four loss in nine appearances.
DCSD BASKETBALL STATE PLAYOFFS RESULTS
Saturday, March 4
Class 5A Semifinals at Columbus State
Girls
SW DeKalb (27-4) 66, Flowery Branch (24-7) 63
Boys
Cedar Shoals (27-4) 59, Miller Grove (21-8) 38
DCSD BASKETBALL STATE PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
Wednesday, March 8
Class 5A Girls Finals
SW DeKalb (27-4) vs. Buford (28-2), 6:00 pm