Class AA semifinals results from Georgia College

They’ll play the No. 3 Douglass Lady Astros 2 p.m. Thursday at the Macon Centreplex.

“I had confidence in myself and believed in my team,” said Alford, who finished with a team-high 23 points, 18 rebounds and five steals.

For the unranked Lady Yellow Jackets (23-7), it was a blown opportunity to advance to their first-ever title game appearance in a history that dates back to at least 1952. They led 45-35 at the start of the fourth quarter and 49-40 with 4:53 left. But the Lady Patriots’ full-court press flustered the Lady Jackets, who were unable melt the clock with their lead, instead turning the ball over after very short possessions and then fouling on the other end.

That played into Southwest’s hand and kept the Lady Patriots in the game until they could get within striking distance.

“There’s no quit in our kids and we just play until the last buzzer,” Lady Patriots coach Willie Goolsby said.

Rockmart second-year coach Andre Clark said the pressure got to his young team, which has just three seniors.

“It was there,” Clark said. “They were doing things that were out of character. We were rushing because the style (the Lady Patriots) were playing sped us up.”

Neither team could take control for most of the fourth quarter. The Lady Yellow Jackets succumbed to turnovers and were 3-of-11 from the free-throw line, while the Lady Patriots missed numerous layups and were just 4-of-13 from the line.

The Lady Patriots got themselves back into the game with a 10-0 run to bring the score to 49-48 Rockmart with 1:43 left. Rockmart junior Keyarah Berry — who had a game-high 29 points — hit a layup with 1:33 left to put the Lady Jackets ahead 51-48, ending a nearly-four-minute Rockmart scoring drought.

Alford hit a basket on Southwest’s next possession, which was followed by a Rockmart backcourt violation and another Alford basket, giving Southwest its first lead of the half at 52-51.

Berry was fouled with 26 seconds left and made the second of two free throws to tie the game, setting up the game’s final play. The Lady Patriots brought the ball up, crossed half court and got the ball to Alford at the top of the key. She took a few dribbles behind the 3-point line and worked her way to the baseline before delivering the decisive turnaround jumper.

Avrie Grayer had 15 points and Shyqeria Williams had 10 for Southwest.

Megan Little had 14 points for Rockmart.

Douglass 53, Early County 49

The No. 3 Lady Astros (25-5) are a win away from repeating as state champions after executing a lockdown defense in the second half and 3-point shooting to pull away from No. 2 Early County (26-5) in a rematch of last year’s final.

Lady Astros coach Alana Allen said it’s been a trying season for the team — Douglass lost all of its games by Dec. 23 — as it has had to adjust to life without Nekiyah Thompson and Kayla Pruitt, her top graduating players from last year’s team.

“We lost a lot of games early on and we had a lot going on with our team,” Allen said. “God is really great...and we just continue to win and that’s what we plan on doing next week.”

The Lady Astros hit seven 3s including four in the first half, and then held Lady Bobcats four-star recruit Makayla Timpson to just five points in the second half.

Kayla Sesberry led Douglass with 16 points and Ashley McKee had 15.

“We played really good defense today,” McKee said.

The Lady Astros led 17-12 after the first quarter and 36-29 at the half. They were up by as much as 47-33 in the third quarter and held a 53-41 lead with with 3:34 left before the Lady Bobcats closed the gap to the game’s final margin with 52 seconds left. They had a chance to pull closer but turned the ball over, then missed another 3.

Timpson finished with a game-high 18 points and Jordan Eafford had 15 for Early County.

Boys

Swainsboro 79, Glenn Hills 62

The Swainsboro Tigers technically beat the Glenn Hill Spartans. Literally.

In what can only be described as a complete meltdown by the Spartans, the Tigers pulled away in a wild fourth quarter thanks to Glenn Hill’s five technical fouls, one flagrant foul and two ejections.

In a game where tensions between the teams ran high, the top-ranked Tigers (29-2) maintained their couth to advance to their second title game appearance in four seasons, in search of their first state title since 1996.

They’ll play the defending state champion Therrell Panthers 4 p.m. Thursday at the Macon Centreplex.

“Last year we didn’t make the playoffs so now (the players) have a chip on their shoulder,” Tigers coach Brice Hobbs said. “There ain’t nothing nobody can do or say to stop this team.”

The Tigers led the Spartans 44-35 after three quarters but the start of the fourth was delayed nearly 10 minutes after a discrepancy was discovered in Glenn Hills’ lineup submission to the scorer’s table. Per GHSA rules, the Spartans were assessed a technical foul and Swainsboro immediately claimed a double-digit lead at the free throw line.

With 4:45 remaining, Spartans coach William Cunningham was charged a technical during a Swainsboro timeout, arguing the Tigers didn’t have possession when they called it. Ten seconds later, Octavious Walton was ejected with double technical fouls after getting into an altercation with a fan, then arguing with a referee.

With 3:22 remaining, Lazarius Marshall was ejected for allegedly spitting toward the Swainsboro fan section. With 21.9 seconds left, and with the score already at its final margin, the Spartans were called for a flagrant foul when the Tigers’ Derrick Jones attempted a dunk.

Including free throws and the ensuing possessions resulting from Spartans technicals, the Tigers racked up 18 points — they won by 17.

Fred Seabrough, who led the Tigers with 23 points, said the Tigers won with defense and a mental edge.

“We know we can get in their heads,” he said. “We just stayed humble and played our game.”

Artis Kingsbury had 21 points for Swainsboro, seven of which came off technical free throws.

John Whitehead scored a game-high 29 points for the No. 2-ranked Spartans (23-8).

Therrell 54, Chattooga 37

The No. 3 Panthers (25-7) coasted to a win over the unranked Indians (24-7) and will have a chance at consecutive state titles and the second championship in program history.

The Panthers led for all but 22 seconds — the Indians opened the game making their first two 3-point attempts to briefly go ahead 6-5 — and the game was never in doubt.

Therrell’s Resean Frederick led all scorers with 20 points as the Panthers used a full-court press to limit Chattooga’s scoring opportunities while creating plenty for themselves.

“Our game plan was just to run their shooters off the line,” Frederick said. “We scouted them pretty good. We knew they had good shooters. So, we just forced them inside, made them take bad shots and then rebounded and got out on the break and scored.”

That was the game in a nutshell.

Now the Panthers face their toughest challenge of the tournament in top-ranked Swainsboro, which has beaten its playoff opponents by an average of 23.5 points.

“That’s a very tough team,” Panthers coach Eddie Johnson said. “Those twins (Fred and Cedric Seabrough) are monsters down low so hopefully we’ll have a good enough game plan to minimize them as much as possible. Their guards are quick and strong as well, so it’s going to be a good matchup between our guards and theirs. But those bigs, that’s what I’m looking at.”

Johnson confirmed that their best player, four-star recruit Robbie Armbrester — who has missed almost the entire season with a wrist injury — won’t play in the championship game.

Despite the loss, it was a historic season for the Indians, who reached the semifinals for the first time in a program history that dates back to 1961. They were led by Malachi Jackson’s eight points.

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