2008-09 Girls Hoops
2009 DeKalb County MS Tournament of Champions
Championship Game
Miller Grove MS “Lady Wolverines” vs. Stone Mountain MS “Lady Pirates”
Stone Mtn. wins MS Championship
Lady Pirates come from behind
Columbia High School – Decatur, GA
 |
| Stone Mountain's Katie Hunt was named the games MVP. |
Decatur, GA – Head Coach Dorothy Seay-Mayberry and her Lady Pirates from Stone Mountain MS overcame a scoreless 1st quarter and a three-point half time deficit to storm back against Miller Grove MS and capture the 2009 DeKalb County MS Tournament of Champions, championship trophy.
Both teams felt the pressure of the moment when they hit the floor for the championship game as they missed several easy shots and turned the ball over a number of times. While there wasn’t a lot of scoring the players were really hustling and getting after each other.
Miller Grove’s Fallyn Evans and Aniefiok Udofia scored the only baskets of the first quarter to give the Lady Wolverines a 5-0 lead.
Stone Mountain finally scored when Danielle Clark hit a jumper at the 5:32 mark of the second quarter. Marnasha Eugene had a big second quarter for Miller Grove with 6 points; her basket gave the Lady Wolverines a 9-4 lead midway through the half.
 |
| Fellows youv'e seen that look that HC Yolanda Redmond is giving her assistant coach before and when you see it you are going to do 1 of 2 things, give it back or hop to it like her assistant is doing (lol)....just. keeping it real fellows. |
The Lady Pirates two big girls; Sierra Butler and Kaliyah Mitchell started pounding the glass and the allowed Yactavia Hickson and Katie Hunt to start running the floor. Hickson’s three-pointer and Hunt’s three-point play helped Stone Mountain cut the lead to 13-10 heading into the half.
In the third quarter you could tell that the momentum was slowly starting to tilt towards Stone Mountain when Miller Grove missed a few opportunities to increased their lead.
Mitchell’s basket pulled the Lady Pirates to within one, 14-12 and then a few moments later they tied the score at 14-14 on a basket by Hickson with 3:47 left in the third quarter. Miller Grove would respond with baskets from Sharieka Brown and Eugene to make it 17-14 as the teams battled back and forth.
After Stone Mountain took the lead 18-17 Shaniqua Heard would hit a third quarter buzzer beater to put Miller Grove back on top 19-18; setting the stage for an exciting forth quarter.
A basket by Mitchell and a three-point play Hickson with 3:35 left to play changed the face of the game and gave the Lady Pirates their largest lead of the game 24-19.
 |
| The Miller Grove Coaches (in the background) didn't want Yactavia Hickson (l) or Kaliyah Mitchell (r) to have the ball in their hands. |
Udofia’s two free throws and a lay-up by Brown would cut the lead to 25-23 but time was now starting to become a factor with less than 2:00 minutes to play. Brown who had been a settling influence at the point for Miller Grove would foul out with 1:12 left and her team trailing 27-24.
Hickson who played really big down the stretch hit a pair of free throws and scored on a fastbreak to put Stone Mountain up 30-26 with just 24 tics left on the clock. Clark would seal the deal for the Lady Pirates going 5 for 5 from the free-throw line over the last few seconds.
As the last seconds clicked off the clock the tears started flowing and the Stone Mountain fans started cheering wildly as the Lady Pirates rushed the floor to celebrate their come from behind championship victory.
To Miller Groves credit their fans gave them a standing ovation as they received their second place trophy.
 |
| Miller Grove's Sharieka Brown has a sweet little handle, her she is about to cross up the Stone Mtn. defender. |
Katie Hunt from Stone Mountain was named the games “Most Valuable Player” and I would concur; because anytime it appeared as if the Lady Pirate players were getting too high or too slow she was the one that said or did something to help keep them level-headed.
The Final Score:
Stone Mtn MS 34 – Miller Grove MS 26
Scoring Recap
Stone Mountain MS: Yactavia Hickson scored a game high 12 points to lead the Lady Pirates; Danielle Clark added 10, Katie Hunt 7 and Kaliyah Mitchell 4.
Miller Grove MS: Marnasha Eugene finished with 8 to pace Miller Grove; Aniefiok Udofia added 6 and Fallyn Evans 4.
*Note If you know the first names of the Stone Mountain players please e-mail them to me so that the correct credit can be given to their full names. The names in the Scorers Book did not have their first names; Thank you.
© Copyright 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 by 4SHOT Sports
Return to the top of the page
|
