DeKalb County School District

Miller Grove's Keith Pinckney
shoots free throws in the second
half to help rally Miller Grove to
the Class AAAAA state title

The lead changed hands nine times in the fourth quarter before Bryant took a long pass down court from Kyre' Hamer for a fast break basket that put Miller Grove up to stay at 50-49 with 4:54 to play. Bryant's basket was part of an 8-2 run by the Wolverines in which Gilbert drove past his defender three times for pull up jumpers in the lane to give Miller Grove a 56-51 advantage with two minutes to play.

Chase England got two offensive rebounds in the next minute of play and converted them into a layup and a pair of free throws to pull Gainesville back within 56-55 with 1:12 remaining.

Miller Grove forced a pair of turnovers and a missed shot and Bryant hit two of four from the line and Gilbert one of two to make it a 59-55 lead with 33 seconds to play.

It was then the Wolverines turn to mishandle the basketball as a pair of turnovers gave Gainesville two trips to the line. Shanquan Cantrell hit on both ends of the one-and-one with 27 seconds to play and six seconds later Caleb Hayman was at the line with the chance to tie the game as Miller Grove clung to a 59-57 advantage.

Hayman missed both shots and Hamer rebounded for Miller Grove and found Gilbert streaking down the court for an easy basket to clinch the 61-57 victory.

Gilbert came off the bench to score 19 points to tie Gainesville's Cantrell for the game high. Pinckney added 14, 12 in the second half, and Bryant scored 11 of his 13 in the second half to aid the Wolverine run.

Miller Grove's fifth consecutive state title sets a Georgia boys' high school record pushing the Wolverines past Lanier (16 state titles) and Westover (6 state titles), both of which had won four consecutive. The victory also moved Miller Grove into a 10th place tie for all-time state championships in Georgia and into a tie with Columbia for the DeKalb County lead.

This is just the ninth season of varsity basketball for the Wolverines and this team was not expected to perform to the level of the past state championship squads that had Division 1 signees such as Mfon Udofia (Georgia Tech), four-time state champion Tony Parker (UCLA), Donte Williams (Georgia), Henry Brooks (Penn) and Brandon Morris (Georgia).

The team came together with a 64-62 victory over Class AAAAAA Norcross and a 3-1 record in the Max Preps Holiday Classic in California with wins against Washington state champion Rainier Beach, California quarterfinalist Leuzinger and Chicago's De LaSalle.

Southwest DeKalb sophomore Tynice Martin (left)
brings the ball up the court against
Miller Grove senior Katie Hunt

Senior Katie Hunt broke the drought with an offensive rebound of her own miss at the 3:17 mark as Miller Grove went hit the offensive boards and force 10 Southwest DeKalb turnovers in an 11-1 run to finish the quarter trailing just 34-31.

Senior post player Klarissa Weaver who finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds played a big role in the rally as she completed two three-point plays after grabbing offensive rebounds during the run.

Tashi Thompson, a senior who joined the 1,000 Career Point Club earlier this season, knotted the game at 36-36 with 6:48 to play with a three-pointer to tie the game for the first time since it was 3-3 less than two minutes into the game.

Sophomore Davion Wingate answered by sinking a pair of free throws with 6:11 left that started another Lady Panther 10-0 run in which scored twice more on drives to the basket and Miaya Crowder added four points to take a 46-36 lead with 2:57 remaining.

Thompson and Weaver helped cut the lead to six (51-45) with 1:30 to play, but Southwest DeKalb got a basket from Walker and free throws from Wingate and DeShaizer to once again go up by 10 at 55-45 39 seconds to play.

Hunt showed why the Lady Wolverines (26-6) were in the title game again as she hit two free throws and stole the ball and completed a three-point play with just six seconds coming off the clock to cut the lead in half.

The lead was cut to 55-52 with 14 seconds to play as Shaquanda Durden hit a layup on a pass from Weaver. Miller Grove was forced to foul and Martin managed to hit one of the two free throws to seal the win and Southwest DeKalb's fourth state title in six seasons.

Martin finished with a double-double of 15 points and 16 rebounds to lead Southwest DeKalb (24-8) while Weaver's 12 points and 11 rebounds paced Miller Grove.

Southwest DeKalb now leads Columbia, which won its second consecutive and third overall state championship the night before, four titles to three to stay atop the DeKalb girls' standings. Kathy Walton's program is 24-1 in its five postseason appearances over the six seasons, including Class AAAA titles in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The lone loss coming in last year's Class AAAA title game against this same Renee Breedlove coached Lady Wolverine team.

Columbia's Shaundrika Mann
grabbed a last second rebound
and scored the winning basket
with four seconds to play
as she scored all three of
her points in the final 12
seconds to rally Columbia to
the state title win
over Sandy Creek

Columbia (27-3) led most of the way through the first three quarters and took an 11-point lead (22-11) with 1:41 left in the third quarter on a three-point play off an offensive rebound by Starr Nowell.

Sandy Creek's Jasmine Jones took over the game from that point as she hit a three-point shot and completed a three-point play at the end of the quarter to trim the lead to 24-17 heading into the fourth quarter.

Jones served notice that Sandy Creek was not going quietly as she opened the final period of play with another three to cut the lead to 24-20.

Recee Walker pulled Sandy Creek even at 28-28 with a drive to the basket with 4:56 to play and the momentum had completely shifted Sandy Creek's way.

Sandy Creek took its first lead of the game on a shot just inside the three-point arc by Jones to make it a 35-33 advantage with 2:06 to play.

The two teams traded turnovers as Columbia scrambled to tie the game and with 25 seconds to play Walker hit one of two free throws to give Sandy Creek a 37-35 advantage. This set up Mann's last second heroics with three points in the final 12 seconds, her only points of the game, to send Columbia home a state champion once again.

Jones was the only Sandy Creek player in double figures with her game-high 17 points. Yaktavia Hickson hit for 11 points to lead Columbia while Kyle Felton had four points and 10 rebounds.

Columbia's title was the 11th in four seasons for DeKalb County and moved the Lady Eagles into a first place tie with Southwest DeKalb with three state titles for a DeKalb girls' program. Southwest DeKalb takes on Miller Grove on Friday (today) at 7 p.m. in Macon with the chance to break the tie.

The Lady Eagles are now 18-1 in the state playoffs since 2010 and had not won a playoff game in six tries before winning two in the 2009 season.

Two other DeKalb girls' basketball teams go for a state title on Friday at 7 p.m. as the No. 3 ranked Miller Grove Lady Wolverines take on No. 4 Southwest DeKalb Lady Panthers in the Class AAAAA state championship. It is the second consecutive season for the two teams to meet in the state finals with Miller Grove winning the Class AAAA championship 46-39 a year ago.