Chamblee’s Savannah Russell (2) dribbles up court against Martin Luther King’s Jana Berry during King’s 49-28 Region 5-5A victory. (Photo by Mark Brock)
The Martin Luther King Jr. Lady Lions opened a King Region 5-5A high school basketball sweep of Chamblee with a 49-28 victory at Chamblee on Tuesday night.
King (2-1, 2-1) jumped out to 12-0 lead as Alaija Coates hit back-to-back three-pointers and a driving layup to open the scoring. Jana Berry and Atarah McNeil followed with layups to complete the opening period run.
Chamblee (1-1, 1-1) answered with a 6-0 run to end the quarter as Tabitha McLeod hit a layup to put the Lady Bulldogs on the board and Alona Azeta scored a pair of baskets including one at the buzzer on an assist from Alissa McKinzey.
Coates was back at it to start the second quarter as she hit two more layups and teammate McNeil had a basket and two free throws for an 8-0 run to extend the lead to 20-6.
Victoria Nwanze hit a three-pointer late in the half as lead expanded to 31-11. Chamblee’s Trinity Walls hit a layup on a drive at the buzzer to close it to 31-13 at the half.
McNeil hit for three baskets in the third quarter, Coates added a three-pointer and Jana Berry’s drive with 1:20 left in the quarter to send the Lady Lions to a 46-18 advantage heading into the final quarter of play.
Kristina Perez hit four short jumpers for eight points to lead a Lady Bulldogs 9-1 run to open the fourth quarter to close the gap down to 47-27.
Alaija Coates finished the night with 19 points with Atarah McNeil adding 14 for M.L. King. Janae Nicholas grabbed 13 rebounds to lead King while Victoria Nwanze added 12.
Kristina Perez had eight points to lead Chamblee while Alona Azeta had five points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Martin Luther King’s Terrin Wofford (0) pulls up in front of Chamblee’s Jason Lynch (1) during King’s 60-46 win. (Photo by Mark Brock)
(B) M.L. King 60, Chamblee 46
The Lions closed out the sweep with a 60-46 victory in the boys’ game against Chamblee using a 13-0 run to take control of the game beginning in the second quarter and into the third.
Chamblee led by Will Mepham’s eight first quarter points took a 14-11 lead into the second quarter as a three-point, buzzer beater by Mepham hit nothing but net to end the period.
The Lions took a brief 16-14 lead with 5:49 to play in the second quarter on Keaton Tait’s offensive rebound and put back. Mepham knotted the game at 16 with a layup on a feed from Justin Lynch with 4:35 remaining in the first half.
Terrin Wofford would sandwich a Deshun Dumas three-pointer with a pair of layups in the final 2:15 of the half to start the 15-1 run by the Lions good for a 25-17 lead at the break.
Baskets by Korynn Sterling, Wofford and Kaleb Brown pushed the lead out to 31-17 with 6:55 to play in the third quarter.
Brown finished with 11 third-quarter points including a three-pointer and a pair of pull up jumpers giving the Lions (1-2, 1-2) a 47-30 advantage over the Bulldogs (0-2, 0-2) heading into the final quarter of play.
Douglas Liggion scored five unanswered points on a basket and an old-fashioned three-point play to close the gap to 12 points (47-35) with 6:17 to play in the game. Both baskets came via passes from Mepham.
Jason Lynch hit for six points in a stretch for the Bulldogs to close the gap to 55-42 with 3:27 to play. Sterling had a pair of 15-foot jumpers in the final 3:38 of the game and Wofford added a layup and a one-for-two trip to the foul line to help close out the 60-46 win.
Terrin Wofford finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Lions to victory. Kaleb Brown added 12 and Koryn Sterling chipped in 11.
Will Mepham had a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double to lead the Bulldogs while Douglas Liggion added 13 points.