By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

The shovel started digging the hole in the second quarter.

Southwest’s 13-12 lead after one was gone pretty quickly, the Patriots suddenly making some head-shaking passes and becoming more slow-footed on defense.

The hole became a 13-point one late in the third quarter. Southwest put forth an impressive comeback in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t come up with the stop or avoid too many empty possessions in falling 56-46 to Douglass-Atlanta in the GHSA Class AA girls championship game at the Coliseum.

With several players from Southwest’s last championship-game team – in the mid 1990s – behind the bench, led by current Howard head coach Latavia Coleman, the Patriots finally started looking a bit like the Patriots.

Head coach Willie Goolsby watched his Patriots fall behind and come back, but uncharacteristic play hurt Southwest down the stretch.

Video: Michael A. Lough/The Sports Report of Central Georgia, www.centralgasports.com

“I knew we had a run in us,” Southwest head coach Willie Goolsby said. “I like that the kids didn’t give up.”

They scored on three straight possessions, an unfortunate rarity for the afternoon, and suddenly were down only two possessions with less than two minutes off the fourth-quarter clock.

Both teams hit a drought on several possessions, Douglass blowing a chance to put it away and Southwest missing an opportunity to put more pressure on the Astros.

Southwest then went on a 6-0 run, and suddenly the locals were within a bucket at 46-44 with 3:12 left on two free throws from Jakera Hill.

The hump stayed put.

A steal and layup broke Douglass’ dry spell of nearly four minutes. Southwest force a tie ball and got it back only to turn it over, which it did on its next possession after getting a stop. And the Astros made them pay, scoring after two offensive rebounds.

That made it 50-44 with 2:17 left in the game.

Stantagious Alford got Southwest within four on an offensive rebound, and Goolsby called time with 1:55 remaining.

Douglass got two free throws seven seconds later, and the Patriots had no more points left in the tank.

Two days earlier, Goolsby talked of facing teams years ago that had 6-4 and 6-5 players, which the Patriots never had.

That was a problem against Douglas and Ikenya King, who stood a strong 6-3. She didn’t necessarily dominate, but had 13 points and 16 rebounds and amazingly was whistled for only one foul.

And 11 of those boards were on offense, helping Douglass to the difference in the game: an 18-4 advantage on second-chance points.

“Big girl like that, we told our kids, ‘know where she’s at and put a body on her,’’ said Goolsby, whose team was outrebounded 51-30. “Sometimes we didn’t, and we paid for it.”

Shooting accuracy was fairly even, 35.6 percent for Douglass and 34 percent for Southwest. But the Astros made two more shots from the floor on six more tries, and made five more free throws on nine more attempts.

And they teamed for a rugged 3-for-24 day from 3-point range.

Alford and Jakhyla Johnson led Southwest with 14 points each, while guard Kayla Sesberry had a game-high 25 points – on 10-of-17 shooting – for Douglass.

So ended the 28th season as Southwest’s head coach, who was able to manage a consolation smile.

“It just wasn’t meant to be,” he said. “Still no cigars.”

Thursday’s Games
Class 3A Girls
Greater Atlanta Christian 54, Beach 44
Kaleigh Addie finished strong and scored a game-high 28 points to lead GAC to its ninth title, but first in more than a decade.
GAC survived a six-point third quarter, and Addie scored 12 of her team’s final 18 points, the Spartans finishing it at the line.

Class 3A Boys

Pace 48, Jefferson 35

It took Pace awhile to get going, but the Knights finally got going and pulled away in the fourth quarter, sparked by a 9-0 run.
Pace won its third title in recent years, winning in 2016 and 2017, ending the season at 28-4. Jefferson (22-8) was making its state title debut, which didn’t show in getting a 9-0 lead.

Class AA Boys

Swainsboro 69, Therrell 65

Therrell had a four-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but Swainsboro quickly tied it and then Therrell struggled to score a little more than Swainsboro.
Swainsboro, which sat out last year’s postseason, won its first championship since 1996, and finished 29-3 behind Fredrick Seabrough’s 18 points. RaSean Freerick led Therrell (26-7) with 23 points.