On a night when neither team could buy a basket, it took just one girl making three shots to completely turn the game around.
Norcross sophomore guard Jania Akins made a layup and two 3-pointers in a 51-second span to start the fourth quarter, helping the Blue Devils rally for a 41-37 victory over Harrison in the Class 7A girls basketball championship game Saturday at the Macon Coliseum.
Fourth-ranked Norcross (26-5) won the fourth championship in program history and its first since winning three between 2010 and 2013. No. 6 Harrison (27-4), seeking its first championship, finished as a state runner-up for the third time in six seasons.
Norcross trailed 23-19 going into the fourth quarter, but Akins’ eight points were part of an 11-0 run that gave the Blue Devils a 28-23 lead with 5:32 remaining. Harrison closed the gap to two points three times down the stretch but could never pull even. Norcross scored more points in the fourth quarter (22) than in the previous three combined.
“Jania came down and one [3-pointer] finally dropped for her,” Norcross coach Ashley Luke Clanton said. “And then the next one, when she put it up, I knew it was going because she’s a gamer. That’s the type of kid that she is. Once the lid was off the bucket, we were in good shape.”
Akins was 1-for-11 from the field with just three points through three quarters. She finished 4-for-15 with 14 points.
She was far from the only player struggling from the field, however. Norcross was just 13-for-42 (31%) for the game, while Harrison was 12-42 (28.6%), and both teams were 4-for-15 from 3-point range. No player from either team that attempted at least two shots made more than half of them.
“It was a tough game,” Clanton said. “We shot abysmally, and the only way you stay in a game like that is to play some defense. The Harrison team is tough, which you expected in a state championship-level game. I thought they did a really nice job of making things tough on us, and we thought our kids hung tough.”
After a tight first quarter which ended with Harrison ahead 8-7, the Hoyas led for most of the second and third quarters, building the margin to seven points on a free throw and a 3-pointer by Alisha Foster that made it 21-14 with 2:01 left in the third.
Zaria Hurston’s basket in the lane in the closing seconds of the period had the Blue Devils within 23-19 and started the game-deciding run.
Hurston, the Region 7 player of the year, led Norcross with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Akins added seven rebounds and two assists.
Foster was Harrison’s only double-figure scorer with 14. Region 3 player of the year Anna Gernatt had eight points, four rebounds and three steals.
Norcross - 7-5-7-22 - 41
Harrison - 8-9-6-14 - 37
Norcross (41): Zaria Hurston 15, Jania Akins 14, Denaeja Morton 7, Kayla Lindsey 3, Laniya Kenon 2, Cadence Peterson, Cate Sidey.
Harrison (37): Alisha Foster 14, Anna Gernatt 8, Emme Johnson 6, Emily Acadmpora 3, Alex McElroy 2, Mia Geveke 2, Bailey Vick 2, Holley Turner, Kennedy Young.
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