Larry Fleming
larryfleming@daltoncitizen.com
DULUTH — Southwest DeKalb turned in a lackluster effort in the Class 4A state basketball semifinals, but the Lady Panthers got down to business quickly against Northwest Whitfield in Friday’s championship game.
Southwest hammered Northwest with a shocking 14-0 start at the Arena at Gwinnett Center and stormed past the Lady Bruins, 65-45, to claim its third straight state title.
“I probably should have called a timeout when it was 6-0, but I thought we could weather it,” said disappointed Lady Bruins coach Margaret Stockburger. “Then (Kayla) Lewis drilled that 3-pointer.”
Down 9-0 after Lewis’ bomb, Stockburger called a timeout less than 2 minutes into the game. When play resumed, Southwest’s Brieona Warner got a steal and fastbreak layup, Alondra Rivers nailed a 3 from the right side and the Lady Panthers were off and running with a 14-0 blow to the pysche of the Lady Bruins (29-4).
“I think it helped us and got in their heads,” Southwest coach Kathy Richey-Walton said of the opening burst. “They’re a great team and this was a great opportunity for them to upset us and make history themselves. I knew they had that in mind and they were a team that was capable of doing it. For us to start like that, I think, put a little doubt in them.”
Northwest’s first score came on Christy Robinson’s layup on an assist by Quaneisha McCurty with 4:57 left in the first quarter.
But the relentless Lady Panthers were like a buzzsaw, either slicing through Northwest’s defense for high-percentage shots in the lane or getting open-look jumpers from the perimeter in an impressive display of basketball prowess.
Southwest (27-4) made seven of its first nine field-goal attempts for a 17-2 lead and was up 25-10 after one quarter.
“They came out on fire,” said Robinson, who has signed with Samford. “They knocked down about every shot they took and it was kind of overwhelming. They’re a tough team.”
The Lady Panthers were tenacious on defense, taking the Lady Bruins out of their game plan, and extremely efficient on offense.
“We really got emotionally and mentally focused,” said Lewis, a University of Florida signee who scored a game-high 20 points, with 14 coming in the first quarter. “We just wanted to come out there with a lot of energy, a lot of focus and a lot of speed, shake the game up and set the tempo early. That was our goal, to make a statement early in the game.”
Many of the type of passes Northwest had made successfuly in its 75-56 rout of Dutchtown in Wednesday’s semifinals were deflected or picked off by the cat-quick Lady Panthers. Shots the Lady Bruins squared up for against Dutchtown were hotly contested by Southwest, which had six blocks in the first half.
The Lady Panthers’ aggressive defense clearly bothered Northwest, which committed 10 of its 14 turnovers in the first half.
“They were all up in our space,” the 6-foot-3-inch Robinson said. “I don’t think there was a moment when somebody wasn’t touching one of our players. They were all physical and they played pressure defense and it was tough to run our offense.”
So smothering was Southwest’s defense that Northwest senior Jordi Cook, who scored a career-high 27 points in the semifinals, took one shot in the first quarter. Her first field goal came with 5:10 left in the second quarter, a baseline drive she banked off the backboard. She finished with a team-high 10 points, with six in the second quarter.
“We expected them to be physical,” Cook said. “That No. 23 (Chancie Dunn, a Clemson signee) guarded me as hard as anyone all year.”
In the third quarter, senior guard Baleigh Coley, who has signed with Columbus State, dropped in a field goal and 3-pointer to cut the Lady Panthers’ lead to 38-27. Southwest, which has advanced to the semifinals four years running, scored the next eight points to stretch the lead to 46-27 with 3:14 left in the quarter.
Kayla Piorkowski’s jumper sliced the Lady Panthers’ lead to 46-34 late in the third quarter, but Dunn scored twice in the final 16 seconds and Southwest had a 50-34 advantage going into the fourth.
Dunn finished with 19 points, with 10 coming in the third quarter. Alondra Rivers added 10 points for Southwest.
The Lady Panthers outscored Northwest 7-0 to build a 57-34 lead with 5:06 left in a game that had been decided much earlier.
Two days earlier, Southwest struggled against Forest Park in the semifinals before building a 14-point lead with two minutes to play. Forest Park cut its deficit to points with 17.4 seconds left, but Lewis and Chyna Miley each made two free throws to secure a 61-55 victory.
Despite the disappointing loss, the Lady Bruins compiled plenty of positive memories this season, Stockburger said, including a program record for victories.
“I told the girls I was proud of what they accomplished,” the veteran coach said. “Not many teams win 29 games. Not many teams reach the state finals. Not many teams have the senior leadership our six seniors provided. Those are all positives they can be proud of.”
Robinson, a two-time Daily Citizen All-Area Team selection and the 2008 Player of the year, agreed.
“It was an awesome ride,” she said. “We had our ups and downs, but we sure didn’t want a mediocre season. We wanted it to be great and we’re proud to have played in the championship game.”
Added Cook: “Of course we’re upset because we lost, but it’s been a great season and there’s just great senior leadership and we all care about each other a lot. Even though we’re all going our separate ways, we’re all going to be close and hopefully we left behind a good example for the other girls to follow and step up and lead.”
Coley scored nine points for the Lady Bruins, who were appearing in their sixth straight state tournament. McCurty had eight points and seven rebounds. Emily Trew finished with seven points, Robinson six and Piorkowski five.
