Arabia Mountain’s Sierra Burns (13) gets past McIntosh’s Maya Nowell for a layup during second half action of Arabia’s 65-39 Class 5A girls’ first round state playoff win. (Photo by Mark Brock)
The Arabia Mountain Lady Rams rolled past the McIntosh Lady Chieftains 65-39 at Arabia Mountain to move into the Class 5A Girls’ State Playoffs Sweet 16.
The Lady Rams (25-2) bounced back from a tough loss in the Region 4-5A finals behind the play of Sierra Burns, Myori Pruitt and Malaya Jones as they combined for 57 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists in the victory.
Pruitt scored the first five points of the game to jumpstart a 10-0 run in the first 4:17 of the game. Burns had a steal for a basket, Jones a pull up floater in the lane and Pruitt then added two free throws to end the run.
Jones helped extend the lead from the 12-5 first quarter with two free throws and a drive the length of the floor to make it 18-9 with 5:28 to play in the half.
Kelcie Alonso’s drive for McIntosh (10-18) made it 18-11 and then Burns would score the next nine points. She hit a short jumper and a three-pointer to kick off the run and then Pruitt connected with her twice on breaks to the basket (one on an inbounds pass) for easy layups.
Burns finished the quarter with 14 points as she added a three-pointer and two free throws for a 32-15 advantage at the break.
The senior would go on to score eight points in the third quarter including two more baskets on assists from Pruitt, the last with 34 seconds left in the quarter.
Pruitt fed Lauren Chavis who scored and hit the and-one with 7.2 seconds remaining in the third to send the Lady Rams into the fourth up 50-25.
Burns scored her last bucket of the game in the first minute of the fourth quarter and Jones along with Pruitt and Jayla Thomas all had three-pointers in the final period. The lead grew to 30 points (65-35) on Pruitt’s three with 1:25 remaining in the game.
The final tally for Burns was 26 points and 8 rebounds while Pruitt hit for 20 points and had 7 assists to go with 12 points and 5 assists from Jones. Angelina Billingsley added 11 rebounds for Arabia Mountain.
Kendal Davis scored 31 points (including three three-pointers) and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead McIntosh.
Arabia Mountain moves into the Sweet 16 and gets to host Jones County (20-8) the Region 3 No. 4 seed that knocked off No. 5 ranked Ware County. The game is scheduled for Friday at Arabia Mountain with a time to be announced.
Lithonia’s Caleb Taylor (with ball against Tucker earlier this season) had 15 points to lead the Lithonia Bulldogs to a 58-57 road win over the Northside Patriots in Class 5A boys’ playoff action on Tuesday night. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Class 5A Boys
Lithonia 58, Northside-Columbus 57
The Lithonia Bulldogs went on the road and held off the Northside-Columbus Patriots 58-57 to move on to the Sweet 16 this weekend.
Lithonia (18-9) fueled by Caleb Taylor’s 10 second quarter points flipped a 14-9 deficit into a 33-29 advantage at the half. Taylor hit two of his three treys in the second period as the Bulldogs climbed out the early hole.
Six Bulldogs scored in the third quarter as Lithonia extended the lead to 51-42 with one quarter left to play.
Hosley had five points and Hill was 5-5 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter as the foul situation slowed down the Bulldogs sure to a 10-point lead.
As the lead dwindled Cortez Vaughn hit three of four from the line and Joshua Daniels was two-for-two to help the Bulldogs hold off the home team for the first round win.
Caleb Taylor finished with 15 points to lead Lithonia and Cortez Vaughn finished with 11.
Kameron Hill scored 26 points (15-21 from the free-throw line) to lead the Patriots (17-9) and Malachi Hosley added 10 points.
Lithonia earned a trip to Eagle’s Landing (26-1) to face the state’s No. 2 ranked Class 5A team. The day and time are yet to be set.
Six DeKalb teams fell in first round action including girls’ squads from Cedar Grove, Chamblee, Lakeside, Lithonia and Southwest DeKalb. The Miller Grove Wolverines also had their season come to an end in the opening round.
DCSD STATE BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS
FIRST ROUND
Tuesday, 2/21
GIRLS HOME GAMES
Class 5A
Arabia Mountain (25-2) 65, McIntosh (10-18) 39
Tuesday, 2/21
GIRLS AWAY GAMES
Class 6A
Rockdale Co. (22-7) 71, Lakeside (14-13) 23
Class 5A
Northside Columbus (20-6) 76, Lithonia (8-19) 9
Harris Co. (19-8) 51, Chamblee (12-10) 33
Class 4A Girls
Stockbridge (21-8) 69, SW DeKalb (16-11) 47
Class 3A
Lakeview-Ft. Oglethorpe (26-1) 69, Cedar Grove (3-17) 28
Tuesday, 2/21
BOYS AWAY GAMES
Class 5A
Lithonia (18-9) 58, Northside Columbus (17-9) 57
Class 4A
Pace (21-7) 67, Miller Grove (14-12) 28
Wednesday, 2/22
GIRLS HOME GAMES
Class 2A
North Cobb Christian (15-11) at Columbia (20-7), 6:00 pm
Wednesday, 2/22
BOYS HOME GAMES
Class 2A
Drew (20-7) at Columbia (27-1), 7:30 pm
North Cobb Christian (20-6) vs. Redan (15-8), 7:00 pm
Class 3A
Lafayette (16-8) vs. Cedar Grove (16-9), 7:00 pm
Class 4A
Woodland-Stockbridge (14-14) at SW DeKalb (24-2), 7:00 pm
Class 5A
Northgate (9-17) at Tucker (19-6), 7:00 pm
Wednesday, 2/22
BOYS AWAY GAMES
Class 5A
Chamblee (8-16) at McIntosh (20-7), 7:00 pm
Class 4A
Druid Hills (16-10) vs. Lovett (19-9), 7:00 pm
Friday, 2/24
Class 5A Girls
Jones Co. (20-8) at Arabia Mountain (25-2), TBA
To Be Determined
Class 5A Boys
Lithonia (18-9) at Eagle’s Landing (26-1), TBA