MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — The St. Francis Lady Knights finally conquered a familiar foe and, in the process, ended a remarkable run for the Wesleyan Lady Wolves, coasting to a 75-61 win in the Class A Private semifinals on Friday at Georgia College and State University's Centennial Center.
The top-ranked Lady Knights (28-3) — who lost to Wesleyan in the last two semifinals — will play No. 3 Holy Innocents’ 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Macon Centreplex.
For the No. 4 Lady Wolves (22-6), their run of consecutive championship game appearances ends at 16. In addition, they’d made 18 title game appearances in 19 years and won 13 of them since 2001 — all under coach Jan Azar, who left Wesleyan following last year’s runner-up finish to take the head coaching job at Hebron Christian.
Led by near perfection from their star Mia Moore, the Lady Knights took a 7-5 lead with 5:15 in the first quarter and never relinquished it, extending the margin to as many 23.
“We just had to have that (attacking) mindset because when you lose to the same team two years in a row and you don’t get a ring when you’re supposed to, you just have to go after it,” said Moore, a four-star guard who had a game-high 30 points on 11-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range. She was also 5-of-6 from the free-throw line.
The Lady Knights led 17-9 after one quarter and 34-25 at halftime. Wesleyan pulled to within seven points at the beginning of the third quarter but never got any closer, and St. Francis began to put the game out of reach, leading 51-29 heading into the fourth.
In addition to Moore, St. Francis was led by Savannah Samuel (20 points, seven rebounds, 5-for-5 free-throw shooting) and Amirah Abdur-Rahim (14 points, seven rebounds).
The Lady Wolves, who advanced to their 20th consecutive semifinals appearance, were led by first-year coach Carolyn Whitney, a Wesleyan alum who played under Azar. Lauren Hill scored a team-high 19 points and Georgia Tech signee Avyonce Carter finished with 16.
Holy Innocents’ 52, Hebron Christian 48
The Lady Golden Bears rode their best player, 6-foot-4 junior Jillian Hollingshead, to victory and a return to the state title game with a chance to repeat as champions.
Hollingshead, a four-star with a plethora of Power 5 offers, scored a game-high 20 points to lead the No. 3-ranked Lady Golden Bears (26-5), who will play St. Francis in the championship.
“We knew we were going to make it (back to the championship),” Hollingshead said. “We were going to be battle-tested tonight and we just had to play our game.”
It was a disappointing end of the season for the Lady Lions (31-1), who were chasing perfection with long-time Wesleyan coach Jan Azar in her first season with the program. It was their first semifinals appearance since 2005 and they came close to reaching the first title game in a program history that dates back to 1999.
The Lady Lions appeared to tie the game at 51 with 7.5 seconds remaining when junior point guard Carly Fahey hit a baseline 3-pointer, but the shot was waived off when she was called for traveling.
Hollingshead was fouled immediately on the ensuing inbound pass with 5.7 seconds left and made one of two free throws to put the game out of reach.
“I didn’t see the travel,” Azar said. “But they said there was one so we’re going to have to go back and look at the film.”
The traveling call aside, there were issues between the officiating crew and scorer’s table that affected play for both teams. The game had to be stopped twice to correct the score, it was acknowledged that fouls were being improperly attributed to the wrong players, a team was given double-bonus free throws despite not being in the double bonus — that was later corrected — and the buzzer inadvertently went off during game play in a number of instances.
“It was a messy game and both teams were battling a lot of adversity,” Lady Golden Bears coach Nichole Dixon said.
In addition to seeking their fourth state title — they also won in 1999 and 2016 — the Lady Golden Bears are in the championship game for the eighth straight season.
The Lady Lions — who graduate no one from this season’s team — were led by sophomore Jessie Parish’s 13 points.
Boys
St. Francis 63, Mount Pisgah 55
It was the same result as always for the two Region 6 rivals — a St. Francis Knights win — only the game was much closer this time around thanks to a Mount Pisgah Patriots fourth-quarter run.
However, the No. 3 Patriots (23-8) came up short and, as a result, the top-ranked Knights (29-3) are one win away from repeating as state champions.
The Knights will play No. 2 Greenforest 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Macon Centreplex.
Entering the fourth trailing 48-35, the Patriots went on a 16-5 run to pull within 53-51 after JoJo Peterson’s 3-point play with 2:44 remaining. However, the Patriots would go 1-for-6 from the free throw line the rest of the way while the Knights went 10-for-12 to hang on for the win.
The Knights are now in the championship for a third consecutive year and sixth time in the last seven. They’re seeking their fourth state title and third under sixth-year coach Drew Catlett, who also guided them to championships in 2014, 2015.
“We prepare for these type of moments,” said senior four-star and Xavier signee Dwon Odom, who finished with a game-high 23 points and seven rebounds. “We always do in-game situations in practice. (Catlett) always has us prepared, so as long as we follow the game plan we’re alright.”
For the Patriots, it was the closest they’ve played St. Francis this season, losing to them three other times by scores of 64-49, 74-59 and 79-50. Since the 2011-12 season, they’re 0-20 against the Knights.
Still, it was a historic season for the Patriots, who’d previously never made it out of the second round in a program history that dates back to 1986. They were led by Chase Tucker’s 17 points, which included four 3-pointers.
Greenforest 52, Trinity Christian 47
The No. 2 Eagles (21-10) are back in the championship game for the first time since 2017, when they won their third title in program history.
Jalen Forrest scored a team-high 17 points for the Eagles, including three free throws in the final 1:12 that gave them the lead for good.
It’s the Eagles’ second close win this season over their Region 5 rivals. They also beat the Lions 54-53 on Jan. 14. Now they’ll play St. Francis for the state title.
“We know St. Francis is going to come ready,” Forrest said. “We scouted them already and we know our game plan. We’re going to win us a state championship.”
Greenforest trailed 41-37 after three quarters and scored all but two of their fourth-quarter points from the free-throw line, going 9-for-11. Trinity Christian had the chance to tie inside the game’s final 10 seconds, but turned the ball over on an inbound pass following a timeout. Eagles guard Chase Comier hit two free throws with six seconds left to seal the win and bring the score to its final margin.
Eagles first-year coach Edward Ravenel credited the team’s tough schedule this season for preparing them for Friday’s close contest. Regular season opponents included AAAA’s No. 8 St. Pius, AA’s No. 2 Glenn Hills, AAAAAAA’s No. 4 Norcross, AAAAA’s No. 6 Lithonia, and four out-of-state teams ranked in their state’s top 10 according to MaxPreps.
“We’ve had a lot of those games,” he said. “Our kids are just resilient and we work hard. We practice just as hard. So whenever we’re in moments like that we just organize the huddle and just have them realize, ‘Hey man, just do what we’ve done all year long.’ That’s why we played a championship schedule.”
The No. 5 Lions (20-11) were led by Isaac Brito’s game-high 18 points.
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