MACON - The Wilcox County girls basketball team won its first state title and ended Washington-Wilkes’ Cinderella postseason run with a 72-48 victory in the Class A Division II championship game Friday afternoon at the Macon Coliseum.
Top-ranked Wilcox County (28-1) was in control from the start, building a 21-9 lead in the first quarter, but didn’t put Washington-Wilkes away until outscoring the Tigers 25-7 in the final seven minutes after its lead had been cut to six points.
The Patriots reached the quarterfinals the past two seasons but were playing in the championship game for the first time. They won their final 27 games after suffering their only loss, 56-50 to Class 5A Lee County on Dec. 7.
“I’m excited and we’re very happy about it, but I cannot take all the credit for this,” Wilcox County coach Santita Coon said. “The stage was set, and all we had to do was step right in and continue to put forward the work to get to this point where we are today - champions.”
Wilcox County led by 12 at halftime and 11 at the end of the third quarter, but a 3-pointer by Washington-Wilkes’ Lanaysia Crew and a layup by Samaria Young got the Tigers within 47-41 with 7:01 remaining.
Wilcox County’s Carly Miller answered with a 3-pointer that ignited the run that enabled the Patriots to pull away. Kamauri Martin added to the lead with a layup, and then Shamauri Martin scored seven of the Patriots’ next 14 points in a three-minute stretch, including a layup that made it 66-44 with less than four remaining.
Shamauri Martin led the Patriots with 20 points, and Miller made three 3-pointers and finished with 14 points.
Tyliyah Benjamin led the way in the first half with seven points and 17 rebounds. She played only four minutes in the second half because of foul trouble, adding six more points and four more rebounds before fouling out with 4:29 to play. Wilcox County finished with a 53-30 advantage in rebounds.
Washington-Wilkes (14-9) was the only unranked team and the biggest surprise to make it to Macon. The Tigers, who had won just one state playoff game before this year and went 8-8 in the regular season, got hot in the playoffs. They beat Greene County and Lake Oconee Academy in the 8-A Division II tournament to win the region title, then defeated Bryan County, No. 6 Seminole County, No. 10 Telfair County and No. 2 Macon County to reach the final.
The Tigers went 14-2 after starting the season 0-6, with the losses coming against higher-classification teams Hart County (twice), Prince Avenue Christian (twice), Elbert County and Josey.
“I had the confidence in our girls, but I knew that you do not make it this far without a fight,” Coon said. “Washington-Wilkes is a very young team, and I knew that they were going to come hungry to knock us off. So I told our girls that we do not look past anybody. We’ve just got to do our job.”
Myasia Lewis led Washington-Wilkes with 15 points, and Young and Kaidyn Porter had 10 each.
Washington-Wilkes - 9-11-16-12 - 48
Wilcox County - 21-11-15-25 - 72
Washington-Wilkes (48): Samaria Young 10, Lanaysia Crew 9, Kaidyn Porter 10, Zion Bankston 3, Myasia Lewis 15, Jayla Williams 1, Kennedy Danner, Rylie Welborn, Alaina Walton, Emmie Braxton.
Wilcox County (72): Shamauri Martin 20, Lezlee Roberts 8, Zariah Martin 8, Carly Miller 14, Tyliyah Benjamin 13, Ava McGinnis, Aubrey McKinney, Ti’Reaysha Jones, Carlissa Thomas, Titianna Lawson, Jamiyah Holt, Kamauri Martin 9, Ti’Maria Hillman.
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