**Tealiyah West picks up Zuri Grant as Cherokee Bluff celebrates a state championship n its first try.**
*Photo: Michael A. Lough/Central Georgia Sports Report*

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

For about two and a half quarters, what Kizzi Walker saw was pretty familiar.

And at that point, her team led by six.

**Baldwin head coach Kizzi Walker makes a point in the fourth quarter.**
*Photo: Michael A. Lough/Central Georgia Sports Report*

The final quarter and a half – of the game and season – was a little different, and not in a good way.

Baldwin’s level of execution, and eventually effort, dropped and Cherokee Bluff took advantage by closing strong for a 66-58 win Wednesday night in the GHSA Class AAA girls state championship game at the Macon Coliseum.

The young Bears – this is only their seventh season of competition – prevented a repeat for Baldwin, which appeared in its third straight state title game. There was more hunger from the newcomers.

“I told them at every timeout, I told them at the beginning of the game that you got to be intentional,” Walker said. “It wasn’t that. It was more, ‘I’m relaxed, I know I’m going to win’ when you can’t do this in a state championship game. You’ve got to give it your all at all times.”

Janaye Walker, daughter of the head coach, closed out a magnificent career with 21 points and 21 rebounds. Kassidy Neal added 17 points, with 10 each from Zuri Grant and Suri Clark (11 rebounds).

Game stats book

Clarie Carlson went for 23 points to lead fourth-seeded Cherokee Bluff (25-8), Bristol Kersh adding 22 (plus seven assists and five rebounds and Emery Jones 14, almost three times her average.

Jones came up big as a role player, calmly dropping shots from about 15 feet in as Cherokee Bluff guards moved the ball well.

The first half was stronger for seventh-seeded Baldwin (25-7), although Cherokee Bluff showed what it was capable of on its first visit to the big stage. A 14-7 lead dropped to 14-12 after one for the Bravettes, who then went up 26-17 after losing the lead, scoring on seven straight trips through the first five minutes of the second quarter.

They led 33-27 at halftime, outscoring Cherokee Bluff 10-4 in the paint and on second-chance points and getting a pair of 10-point leads. Walker was a point away from a double-double, but was only 3 for 7 from the floor.

Carlson and Kersh kept the Bears going, and scored 14 of Cherokee Bluff’s first 16 points of the third quarter, pushing them to a 43-42 lead with 2:14 left on Carlson’s 3 on the right wing off of Kersh’s pass.

“Bristol and Claire are going to always be Bristol and Claire,” Scott told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “They set the tone for this team. They compete for four quarters, and the girls just carry that out with them.”

Jones’ bucket with six seconds left put Cherokee Bluff up 47-46 after three, Baldwin scoring only five points in the final 4:10.

As it turned out, the fourth quarter wouldn’t be one of great suspense, Cherokee Bluff going on a 9-2 run covering the first 3:13 and putting the Bears up 56-48, the Bravettes coming up empty on their first six possessions.

“I think we just thought somebody was going to lay down and give it to us since we were here three years in a row,” Walker said. “I told them that’s not going to happen. They want to win. This is their first year ever making it here. They want to be champions.”

There was potential of some suspense after all. Post player Halle Wilson fouled out with 2:44 left, Janaye Walker making both free throws to pull within 60-55, but Baldwin couldn’t take advantage, turning it over on three straight possessions.

Then Grant hit a 3-pointer from the left corner with 56 seconds left to pull Baldwin within 62-58. Kersh hit two free throws 22 seconds later, but Grant couldn’t repeat the feat, and Kersh basically sealed it with a free throw 15 seconds after that for a 65-58 lead.

Girls Private
Holy Innocents’ 57, Hebron Christian 39
          Holy Innocents’ stormed out toa 19-5 first-quarter lead, Hebron Christian crept back in a sluggish 9-5 second quarter, but that was it.
          The Bears had plenty of cushion and put it away with a 19-10 fourth quarter.
          Hailee Swain went 10 of 27 from the floor in 32 minutes en route to 30 points, adding 10 rebounds. Danielle Osho had 16 and Mia James 12 for Hebron Christian.
          Hebron Christian head coach Jan Azar, a former assistant at Mount de Sales, was going for a third straight state title.
Boys Private
Holy Innocents’ 84, North Cobb Christian 45
          This was over by halftime, Holy Innocents’ turning a 30-5 lead into a 42-18 advantage at halftime.
          The gap grew to 42 points in the fourth quarter.
          North Carolina bound Caleb Wilson scored 33 points on 14 of 22 shooting to go with 11 rebounds and three blocks. Brock Bass-Bonner had 15 for North Cobb Christian.
          The Holy Innocents’ sweep is the 27th in GHSA history.
Boys Class 3A
Sandy Creek 39, Cedar Grove 38
          Amari Latimer hit one of two free throws to put Sandy Creek up one with 14 seconds left, and then – after three timeouts between the teams - Cedar Grove worked the ball around only to force up a 3-pointer at the buzzer that missed, to seal and seal Sandy Creek’s third straight state title.
          Avohn Florence led top seed Sandy Creek with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
          Manny Green had 13 poitns and Javonte Floyd 12 rebounds for third seed Cedar Grove.
          Sandy Creek had one more rebound, outshot Cedar Grove 36.2-34.1 percent, both teams had 11 turnovers, and they teamed for only 17 free throws. Sandy Creek was 2 for 8 and Cedar Grove 2 for 10 on 3-pointers.
          There were eight ties and seven lead changes, Sandy Creek being on top for three more minutes. Each team won two quarters, and the largest lead was seven for Sandy Creek in the second quarter.
          The Saints (28-4) were held to eight points in the second and fourth quarters, the Patriots (29-3) to eight and seven in the first and third quarters.

Cherokee Bluff outshot Baldwin 42.6-36.2 percent, taking four fewer shots. The Bears were 13 of 21 from the line – Carlson and Kersh alone with 10 of 13 – to 11 of 15 for the Bravettes.

Baldwin had a staggering 49-25 advantage on rebounds, but also had 12 more turnovers and three fewer assists. Five Bears played at least 31 minutes, while Carlson and Kersh never sat for the Bears, who had seven players get at least 10 minutes.

“These girls, it’s never been about me,” Cherokee Bluff head coach Kassie Scott told ScoreAtlanta. “It’s about these girls. They grind every single day. They do what I ask. I am crazy, and they go with it and they embrace it.”

Kizzi Walker didn’t see the same embracing from the Bravettes, who she barked at during fourth-quarter timeouts.

“I don’t think the maturity level was there for them to understand that you got to play hard each and every play. We didn’t take care of the ball, we just started being lax with it. We were not doing the things that got us here.

“They wanted it more and we didn’t.”

Walker’s emotions were somewhat mixed afterward.

“I told them I was proud of them because I told them at the beginning of the season, I didn’t think they had it in them to come back here,” the Baldwin and Georgia Southwestern grad said. “But they fought. We made it here. I told them even though we did not get what we wanted, only two teams made it, and we were one of them.

“But I’m disappointed because we did not perform the way we should.”