Stone Mountain’s Dalys Monfait (3) drives against Mrartin Luther King’s Kaleah Gibson (14) during the Lady Pirates win over the Lady Lions. (Photo by Mark Brock)
A 25-point second quarter by the Stone Mountain Lady Pirates broke open a tie game to propel them to the 61-43 girls’ high school basketball victory over the Martin Luther King Jr. Lady Lions at home on Tuesday night.
King’s Zya Taylor hit a three-pointer late in the first quarter to tie the game at 8-8 as the teams went into the second period of play.
Stone Mountain’s Makayla Wilson got on a roll in the second period, scoring 13 of her 16 first half points including the first four of the quarter on a floater and an offensive put back to give her team the lead for good at 12-8.
Amarie Williams complete a 6-0 run to start the quarter for Stone Mountain (5-5) before King’s Taylor hit a pull up jumper. Wilson answered the basket with a three-pointer, a pull up jumper of her own and hitting one of two free throws to key a 11-0 run. Williams added another basket on a steal and Wilson added two more free throws as the lead ballooned to 24-10.
Samaria Sessom ended the draught for the Lady Lions (2-10) with steal and layup only to have the Pirates respond with another 6-0 run with Ayona Miller scoring five of the six.
Wilson finished off her big first half with another floater along the baseline to end the Pirates into the half up 33-14.
A quick 7-0 run to start the second half by the Lions ended in a 12-3 run to trim the lead to 36-26 with 2:51 remaining in the third quarter. Aubrianna Kirkland hit a driving layup and bounced outside for a three-pointer to kick off the early run. Kamara Whittlesey hit the basket that made it a 10-point game.
Dalys Monfait hit back-to-back layups on passes from Wilson and Williams added two free throws as Stone Mountain took a 47-28 lead into the final quarter of play.
Kirkland hit two three-pointers to go with one each from Khloe Wilson and Taylor, but the Lions could get no closer 12 the rest of the way. Wilson closed out the game with a free throw and one of her floaters to go with an offensive put back by Miller, who had nine points in the final period.
Makayla Wilson finished with 19 points and seven rebounds to lead the way for Stone Mountain. Ayanna Miller put together a 16-point, 10 rebound double-double and Amarie Williams added 14 points (5 rebounds) for the winners.
Kirkland finished with 14 points and four rebounds for the Lions and Kamara Whttlesey added eight points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Martin Luther King’s Caleb Winfrey (left) gets an opening against Stone Mountain’s Vonte Edwards (right) during the Lions road win. (Photo by Mark Brock)
BOYS
M.L. King 63, Stone Mountain 52
The Martin Luther King Jr. Lions put together an 18-0 run during the third quarter to take command against the Stone Mountain Pirates on the way to a 63-52 road win in boys’ non-region basketball action in the nightcap.
Stone Mountain (2-7) led 27-26 at halftime of the back-and-forth game on a layup by Mani Thiere on a pass from Anthony Abadis with nine seconds left in the first half.
Seven points by Nathan Sales in the early going of the second half put the home team up 34-32 with 5:20 when things turned in favor of the Lions (3-8).
King went to a full court press which paid big dividends, forcing nine turnovers and an 18-0 run that put the Lions up 50-34. Emontae Gourdine and Caleb Winfrey traded giving each other an assist on back-to-back threes to kick start the 18-0 run to take command of the game.
Winfrey would go on to score six consecutive points on two free throws and back-to-back layups on assists from Jashawn Pope and Ronald Keller-Collins as the lead continued to grow. Keller-Collins would add two free throws with 21 seconds left in the quarter to make it 50-34 and complete the 18-0 run Edwards finally broke the scoreless streak for the Pirates with a layup just before the buzzer after the Pirates finished the quarter with 10 turnovers.
Stone Mountain managed to cut the lead to nine with 1:16 to play on an offensive put back by Khalib McClendon. King’s Enrique Thompson closed out the game with two free throws to make the final of 63-52.
Calvin Everhart III led the Lions with 17 points and six rebounds followed by Emontae Gourdine with 15 points, Caleb Winfrey with 12 points and Ronald Keller-Collins added 10 points and eight rebounds.
The Pirates got a solid night from Nathan Sales as he put up a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds. G. McLeod contributed 11 points and eight rebounds for the Pirates.