Can Baldwin hold off upstart Cherokee Bluff and repeat as state champ?
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
It’s been quite a year for Kassie Scott.
The second-year head coach of a program in its seventh year of existence has two children, and a husband who’s also a coach in the middle of a new job.
In Cuthbert, which is closer to Dothan, Alabama than Macon. He’s the first-year head football coach at Andrew College, a junior college that just finished its first football season.
‘We find a way to make it work,” she said.
She’ll see if Cherokee Bluff can make it work Wednesday against defending state champ Baldwin in the GHSA Class AAA girls championship at the Macon Coliseum.
Tipoff is at 5 p.m., pitting a program in its third straight state championship game against a program ahead of schedule. Cherokee Bluff’s first season was in 2018-19, a year after Kizzi Walker took over at Baldwin, her alma mater.
“We’re still babies in the school district,” Scott said.
The Bears had four losing seasons to start with and now three winning seasons in a row, going 45-15 under Scott after winning 52 in the first five seasons, three with Scott as an assistant.
This year’s team is a young one, with only one senior, and a chunk of the four freshmen and five sophomores get plenty of minutes.
“I say this in the most truthful manner,” Scott said. “If you would have asked me you know a month ago would we be in the state championship um I probably would have been like, ‘Well, you know, we'll see if we can get there, that’s a high (goal for our season and what we’ve seen injury-wise,’ and things like that.
“But these girls, we just keep chopping wood one game at a time.”
The tempered outlook of a month ago is one of confidence now.
Starters
Cherokee Bluff Baldwin
Claire Carlson F Kassidy Neal
Bristol Kersh F Suri Clark
Brooklyn Phillips G Zuri Grant
Audrey Graham G Trinia Lawrence
Halle Wilson C Janaye Walker
“These girls literally can overcome anything,” Scott said. “I’m proud that they’re getting this chance to prove that we belong here.”
Junior Claire Carlson and sophomore Bristol Kersh lead the Bears. Carlson is Scott’s only year-round basketball-first player, while Kersh is an elite soccer player with upper-level basketball skills.
But Carlson is the clear pure hoopster.
“She’s very tall and lanky, she’s longer than what she looks like,” Scott said. “Defensively, she averages about 3.4 deflections, and she actually leads our team in blocks.”
Scott is a defense-first coach, and the Bears are growing into the mentality.
Walker ascended from the assistant’s job at Baldwin in 2017-18, and hasn’t come close to a losing season. The lowest win total was in 2020-21, a 14-1 mark during COVID-19. Her record sits at 184-41, winning 81.2 percent of the time.
The Bravettes are in their third straight title game, bringing back memories of Baldwin’s three-year run of championships in 1986-87-88 and deep playoff trips around 2000 behind the late Tasha Butts and Marquita Driskell.
Baldwin has more threats than some may realize, with Suri Clark and Kassidy Neal, among others, but the scouting report is always the same:
Corral Janaye Walker.
The imposing 6-2 senior has been a scoring and rebounding machine at Baldwin, and only six games ago consumed an astounding 30 rebounds. She’s averaged a double-double for seemingly her entire career. She has 70 career double-doubles, 22 this season.
This year, she’s getting 15.8 points and 14.8 rebounds, but she’s no ball hog, handing out 3.1 assists – she’s had at least five assists seven times this year - and getting 2.3 steals.
Walker had a points-rebounds-assists triple double against West Laurens in January with 19, 25, and 10.
Distraught and beyond consolation last year after fouling out with her team trailing and then almost in a haze of disbelief after the comeback, Walker enters her high school finale with 1,567 points and 1,390 rebounds. She’s also an underrated passer out of the post.
But the Bravettes are more than Walker’s inside presence.
Kassidy Neal has 1,580 points and averages 16.5 points, seven rebounds,, and 3.5 assists a game. She is the reigning Region 4-AAA defensive player of the year and has 261 steals in her career. The 6-0 junior, also a strong physical presence, has 18 career double-doubles.
Suri Clark is a 6-1 sophomore getting 10.9 points and 7.6 rebounds, while sophomores Zuri Grant and Trinia Lawrence team for11.4 points and 4.5 assists.
Grant and Neal are the top 3-point shooters, Grant and Neal the key defenders, although Walker is notable in both areas.
“The key players that have made a difference are the guards Trinia Lawrence and Zuri Grant,” Kizzi Walker said. “I think they compared themselves to our point guard from last year because people kept comparing them to her. It seemed like they were under the assumption that they had to play like her, when they just needed to bring their own talents to the team.”
Half of Baldwin’s losses came in the first seven games, to Thomson by 10, Jackson by 14, and Holy Innocents’ by nine. The transition period all but came to an end as the Bravettes embarked on a nine-game winning streak. Then came some surprising hiccups, a three-game losing streak, to North Paulding by 25, Richmond Academy, and a double-overtime loss to rival Washington County. Janaye Walker was out for two of those games.
Baldwin was soon enough back to its normal self, breaking the losing streak with an 81-24 win over Hephzibah. And they’ve picked it up in the postseason.
“In the Sweet 16, Zuri Grant showed her defensive ability needed to win the game,” Kizzi Walker said. “ In the Elite 8, Trinia Lawrence did not have any turnovers and the team only had 6 total for the game. Kassidy Neal took over the game while Janaye was on the bench in foul trouble for the majority of the game.
“Suri had a key block and timely rebound for a big stop. Janaye came in and scored the baskets we needed to get back into the game from being down 10.”
The key matchup will be Walker and 6-1 junior center Halle Wilson, not quite as stout at Walker. There’s obviously a plan, and a little familiarity, the teams battling in a summer tournament, the Bears without several players.
“We can make her work,” Scott said. “My guard, they’re small, but they’re tough, they’re aggressive, and they don’t back down from challenges.
“We’ve seen them before. We were young in the summer when we played them.”
Baldwin will need more than Walker, though, with the more guard-oriented Bears.
“We have to limit the guard play,” Kizzi Walker said. “Limit uncontested shots and penetration, have little or no second-chance points, and stay out of foul trouble.
“The maturity of the guards has been a key factor. The post play was already dominant, but now the guard play has come around.”