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Basketball: DeKalb teams sweep AAAA semifinals

DeKalb County high school basketball teams Wednesday swept four games in the Class AAAA semifinals to secure all-DeKalb finals on March 9 at Gwinnett Arena.

Southwest DeKalb and Miller Grove will face each other in both the boys' and girls' championship games. It is the first time there will be an all-DeKalb matchup in boys and girls games in the same year.

The Southwest DeKalb boys and the Miller Grove girls will be playing in their first state championship game. The Miller Grove boys have won three state titles in a row and the Southwest girls won three straight from 2008-10.

Girls

Southwest DeKalb 51, Jonesboro 35

Jasmine Coleman had 12 points and 14 rebounds, while freshman Nicole Martin contributed 12 points and 13 rebounds for Southwest (21-11). Shayla Rivers added 10 points in the Class AAAA semifinals.

Coleman scored seven points and grabbed eight rebounds in leading the Lady Panthers to a 15-13 halftime lead.

Martin was 6 for 6 from the free throw line in the third quarter to help Southwest expand its halftime lead to 31-22 heading into the fourth quarter. A 6-0 run midway through the fourth led by Rivers’ four points gave the Lady Panthers a 13-point lead and Jonesboro (25-6) could not recover.

Miller Grove 42, Alcovy 34

Miller Grove junior Katie Hunt hit 9 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter to help the No. 4-ranked Lady Wolverines (23-4) hold off No. 8 Alcovy (27-5) to advance to the Class AAAA state finals against fellow DeKalb foe Southwest DeKalb.

Hunt finished with 18 points while Tabitha Fudge picked up 12 points and 13 rebounds to go with 13 rebounds by Klarissa Weaver.

Hunt turned around a dismal first three quarters of free throw shooting for Miller Grove, which hit just 2 of 13 but rebounded with Hunt’s help to hit 11 of 14 down the stretch.

Miller Grove led 16-14 at the half, but used a 9-2 run to end the third quarter to take a 27-20 lead.

Boys

Southwest DeKalb 74, North Clayton 67

Jordan Price scored 29 points to lead the No. 4 ranked Panthers (22-9) over the No. 10-ranked Eagles in the Class AAAA boys' semifinals at Gwinnett Arena. William Goodwin had 17 points and 19 rebounds and Kadarius Turner scored 17 points for the Panthers.

North Clayton’s Marcus Hunt scored 26 second-half points to rally North Clayton to within 58-57 with 4:25 to play after trailing by 14 early in the fourth quarter.

Price scored five points and William Goodwin’s dunk with 1:24 pushed the lead back to 69-60 and the Panthers held on for the win.

Price hit for 11 first-quarter points as the Panthers jumped out to a 21-14 lead. Price then made a pair of free throws to give Southwest a 25-14 lead, but Hunt answered with seven points in a 13-5 run for the Eagles to cut the deficit to 30-27 at the half.

Miller Grove 70, Jonesboro 49

Miller Grove senior forward Tony Parker had 30 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Wolverines over the No. 5-ranked Cardinals in the Class AAAA semifinals. Brandon Morris added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolverines (23-9), while Justin Colvin scored 11 points.

Jonesboro closed a 20-point Miller Grove lead to 14 twice in the fourth quarter, but three consecutive dunks (two from Parker and one from Tony Evans) put the game out of reach with 4:29 to play. Parker hit another dunk and Colvin followed with two more in the final 1:30 as the Wolverines pulled away at the end.

Parker scored 10 points to get Miller Grove out to a 16-10 lead after the first quarter. A dunk by Morris and a 3-pointer by Colvin put the Wolverines up 21-13 before Jonesboro rallied to within 22-18 on a 3-pointer from Cameron Sutton with 2:11 left in the first half.  Miller Grove answered as Morris hit a pair of free throws and Parker added a basket for the 26-17 halftime lead.

The Wolverines will face Southwest DeKalb for the fourth time this season in Friday's championship game with the opportunity to become just the third school in the state to win four consecutive titles. Miller Grove won the three previous meetings this year by three, four and six points.

Class AAAA Championships
Gwinnett Arena

Girls: SW DeKalb (21-11) vs. Miller Grove (23-4), 3 p.m.
Boys: SW DeKalb (22-9) vs. Miller Grove (23-9), 4:45 p.m.


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