Sandy Creek's boys won their third straight state championship, Holy Innocents' swept the boys and girls championships in the Private Division, and the Cherokee Bluff girls won it all for the first time to highlight the opening day of competition at the GHSA basketball championships on Wednesday at the Macon Coliseum.  

HI girls header

Private girls: Holy Innocents’ 57, Hebron Christian 39

Stanford signee Hailee Swain scored 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to help Holy Innocents’ knock off defending champion Hebron Christian. The victory gave the Bears (25-5) their fifth state championship and first since 2020.

Swain was 10-for-27 from the field and 9-for-9 at the line. She scored 19 of her points in the second half. The Bears also got seven points from Makayla Weaver.

Hebron Christian (29-1) was led by Danielle Osho with 16 points and eight rebounds and 12 points from Mia James. Kerra Butler had seven points and nine rebounds.  The Lions had won 19 straight games and had won the last two state championships.

Holy Innocents’ got off to a great start, scoring the game’s first seven points and outscoring Hebron 19-5 in the first quarter. Hebron never got closer than six points.

Bluff girls

Class 3A girls: Cherokee Bluff 66, Baldwin 58

Claire Carlson scored 23 and Bristol Kersh scored 22 to lead No. 10-ranked Cherokee Bluff to its first state championship.

The Bears (25-8) forced 20 turnovers, which led to 23 points, to erase a six-point halftime deficit. Cherokee Bluff outscored Baldwin 39-25 in the second half and used a 9-0 run that began at the end of the third quarter to take control.

Carlson shot 7-for-16 from the field, including five 3-pointers, with five rebounds. Kersh was 7-for-16 with five rebounds and seven assists. Emery Jones added 14 points for the Bears.

Baldwin (25-7), last year’s state champion, got 21 points and 21 rebounds from Janaye Walker. The Braves also got 17 points and seven rebounds from Kassidy Neal, 10 points and 11 rebounds from Suri Clark, and 10 points from Zuri Grant.

HI boys

Private boys: Holy Innocents’ 84, North Cobb Christian 45

No. 1-ranked Holy Innocents’ got a dominant effort from 5-star prospect Caleb Wilson and emphatically won its first state championship, routing a young North Cobb Christian team.

Wilson, who has committed to play at North Carolina, scored 33 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help the Bears (27-4) rolled to an easy victory. Holy Innocents’ led 15-3 after the first quarter and was never threatened.

Devin Hutcherson added 17, Khalid Worthy had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Kingston Whitty had 10 points and eight rebounds.

North Cobb Christian (28-4) got 15 points and seven rebounds from Brock Bass-Bonner, 11 points from Will Russell and 10 points and six rebounds from Grant Robich.

3A header

Class 3A boys: Sandy Creek 39, Cedar Grove 38

Amari Latimer, who required a bandage on the corner of his right eye after gashing his head on a fall, made the winning free throw with 14.1 seconds to lift Sandy Creek to its third consecutive state championship.

After calling a couple of timeouts, Cedar Grove had one possession with 8.1 seconds remaining. The Saints inbounded the ball and the Sandy Creek defense forced Cedar Grove to settle for a last-second 3-pointer that was an air ball.

No. 3-ranked Sandy Creek (29-3) was led by Avohn Florence with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Latimer, a four-star football running back, scored eight points and Jared White scored seven.

No. 1-ranked Cedar Grove (28-4) was led by Manny Green with 13 points and Javonte Floyd with nine points and 12 rebounds.

Sandy Creek became the first team to win three straight championships since Wilkinson County in Class A from 2017-19.