Chamblee’s Sofia Marek (14) hot hand from three-point land hitting for seven threes and scoring 20 points to lead the Lady Bulldogs to a 48-25 home win over the Lithonia Lady Bulldogs in Region 4-5A girls’ basketball action. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Sofia Marek sank seven three-pointers to lead the Chamblee Lady Bulldogs to a 48-25 Region 4-5A girls high school basketball victory to open a split on Friday night at Chamblee.
Lithonia earned the win in the nightcap by knocking off Chamblee 72-56 in the boys’ game as both schools came away with a win.
Lashaj Cline put Lithonia (3-7, 0-1) up 2-0 on a pull up in the lane and Marek answered for Chamblee (7-3, 1-0) hitting back-to-back threes to put her team up 6-2 and in the lead for good.
Cline closed the gap back to 6-4 with an offensive put back with 2:55 left in the first quarter. Marek answered with another three to fuel an 8-0 run. Sophia Wang drove the floor with an assist from Mackenzie Cassidy and Cassidy finished the run with a three to make it 14-4 with 50 seconds left in the quarter.
Jemiah Dale grabbed a long rebound and drove to the basket to make it 14-6 after one quarter of play.
Alana Azeta scored six consecutive points to start the second quarter as the Chamblee lead ballooned to 20-6 with 5:07 remaining in the half.
Marek canned another back-to-back barrage from behind the three-point line to make it 26-7. Lithonia went 0-11 from the field in the second quarter and managed just three free throws by Dale in the second period to go into the half down 26-9.
The second half opened with Marek’s seventh three of the night and Azeta hit a basket underneath to extend the lead to 31-9. Following a drive by Dale to put Lithonia in double figures at 11 Chamblee put together another 8-0 run with Marek kick-starting it with drive to the basket.
Azeta followed with six points (2 layups and 2 free throws) s the lead pushed out to 39-11 with 3:47 left in the third quarter.
Trailing 43-13 going into the fourth quarter, Lithonia went on a 6-0 run led by Dale’s four points and a steal and basket by Tiara Edwards, but Chamblee was well ahead and cruised to the win.
Marek finished with 20 points (4 rebounds) and Azeta finished with 18 points and 7 rebounds for Chamblee. Dale had a team-high 15 points and 9 rebounds for Lithonia.
Lithonia’s Marcus Calhoun (22) spins away from Chamblee defenders Ari Meyer (0) and Ramon McDaniel Jr. (4) as he looks to attack the basket. Calhoun finished with 16 points and led a big third quarter push in Lithonia’s 72-56 Region 4-5A boys’ basketball road win over Chamblee. (Photo by Mark Brock)
(B) Lithonia 72, Chamblee 56
Marcus Calhoun’s eight points in a 17-10 surge by the Lithonia Bulldogs in the third period was key to pulling away from the home team Chamblee Bulldogs for a 72-56 boys’ basketball road win in the final game of the night at Chamblee to earn a split.
Lithonia (4-5, 1-0) led 36-27 at the half and extended its advantage to 16 spurred by a 6-0 run to open the second half. Calhoun had a drive sandwiched by two free throws by Kai McAffee and another layup by Kelvin Kight.
Calhoun hit a layup on a nice spin move underneath with 3:15 left in the third period to up the lead to 14 (46-35). Chamblee’s Eli Starr hit an old-fashioned three-point play to trim the lead back down to 11 and a drive to the basket by Simeon Stephens got Chamblee back within 46-37.
Lithonia answered by finishing the quarter on a 7-0 including another basket by Calhoun and a three by Marquez Coffey to take a 53-37 lead into the final quarter of play.
The lead swelled to 21 points behind an 8-3 run by Lithonia to start the fourth quarter. Jamari Allen hit for four points in the run while McAfee and Calhoun both added baskets. The only score by Chamblee came on a three-pointer by Eston McDow.
Chamblee got threes from Octavious Greshem and Stephens, but the damage was done as Lithonia finished off the 72-56 win.
Lithonia opened the game with a 12-3 run getting five points from McAfee and four more from Calhoun on the way to a 17-11 lead going into the second quarter. Chamblee got a pair of three-pointers from Ramon McDaniel Jr. to keep the game within six.
Coffey scored eight points in the second period, including a pair of deep threes, to extend the lead to 35-22. Chamblee got a late three from Starr to keep the lead in single digits at the half.
McAfee finished the night with a game-high 19 points followed by Marquez Coffey with 18 points (6 rebounds), Marcus Calhoun 16 points and Jamari Allen with a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double. Chamblee got 15 points from McDaniel and 11 points and 9 rebounds from Starr.