The last day of the Georgia High School Association state basketball tournament was a good one for first-time champions. The Grayson boys and girls both won for the first time, as did the Mount Vernon boys. The St. Francis girls won their second straight title and fifth overall.

Girls: Class A Division I

St. Francis used a balanced attack and beat Galloway 74-71 in overtime to win its second straight state championship. The Knights also defeated the Scots in the final a year ago.

No. 1 St. Francis (24-7) was led by Giaunni Rogers with 19 points and seven rebounds, Nya Young with 13 points, Amelia Basit with 12 points and 11 rebounds and Sa’Mya Wyatt with 10 points.

No. 2 Galloway (19-11) got 37 points from Tianna Thompson, who added six rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots. Freshman Sophia Louis-Pierrer scored 18 points.

St. Francis missed a game-winning shot at the buzzer that would have ended the game in regulation, but coach Aisha Kennedy’s team outscored the Scots 12-9 in overtime.

It was the fifth state title for St. Francis.

Click here to see the official box score. 

Boys: Class A Division I

Xavier Shegog scored 17 of his 18 points in the second half to lead No. 1 Mount Vernon to a 48-40 win over No. 6 Paideia, giving the Mustangs their first state championship.

Shegog, a West Georgia signee, scored the final eight points of the third quarter to spark Mount Mount Vernon to a lead it never relinquished.

Shegog also had seven rebounds, two blocks and one steal.

Mount Vernon (23-9) also got 10 points and eight rebounds from K.J. Garris, 10 points and six rebounds from Sha’Yah Goba and nine points and four blocks from Dennis Scott III.

Paideia (17-13) was led by freshman Tristan Mitchell, who was the only Python in double figures with 16 points.

Click here to see the official box score. 

 

AAASP Wheelchair 

The Houston County Sharks won their third consecutive championship and 11th in 12 seasons with a 35-16 victory over the Clayton County Eagles. 

Anthony Cuti scored 16 points to pace the Sharks, who broke open a close game with a 13-0 run to open the second half. Cuti scored six points during that spurt.

Houston County also got eight points from Caden Nelson and seven points from JaQuavious West. 

Andrew Dotson scored 10 points to lead Clayton County. 

Girls: Class 7A

No. 1-ranked Grayson completed an unbeaten season and won its first state championship with a 65-44 win over No. 6 North Paulding.

The Rams finished as the only unbeaten team in Georgia and became the first unbeaten girls team in the highest classification since Westlake went 30-0 in 2019.

The Rams (32-0) jumped out to a 21-5 first-quarter lead and were never threatened. They were led by Georgia Tech signee Danielle Carnegie with 21 points and eight rebounds, Florida Atlantic signee Erin Rodgers with 18 points and six rebounds, Tatum Brown with 14 points and six rebounds and Malaya Jones with 10 points.

North Paulding (27-7) was making its first appearance in the championship game. The Wolfpack were led by Marina Sippola with 10 points and Andrea Landrum with eight points.

The teams met during the regular season with Grayson winning 75-37.

Click here to see the official box score. 

Boys: Class 7A

Jacob Wilkins scored 16 points – including three thunderous slam dunks – and grabbed 12 rebounds to pace No. 1 Grayson to a 51-41 win over No. 2 McEachern. It was the first state championship for the Rams.

Grayson never trailed. The Rams took a 10-point lead early in the third quarter and McEachern never got closer than six points the rest of the game.

Grayson (30-2) also got nine points and five rebounds from Gicsrri Harris, eight points and nine rebounds from C.J. Hyland, and 10 rebounds from Amir Taylor.

McEachern (26-5) was led by All-American Ace Bailey, who scored 14 of his team’s first 15 points, but only finished with 18. Bailey had six rebounds, two assist and one steal. The Indians also got 10 points and six rebounds from Nnadozie Onyirimba.

Click here to see the official box score.