Griffin (27-4) used a late run in the fourth quarter to power it past Baldwin (23-9) in the Class AAAA girls state championship game on Wednesday night at the Macon Coliseum. The Lady Bears outscored the Bravettes 8-0 in the final 1:47 of regulation to secure the 51-47 win.
Griffin’s Leah Turner took over when it mattered, with all 17 of her points coming in the last two quarters. She also scored five of the Lady Bears’ final eight points in the last minute.
Baldwin led 47-46 with under a minute left when Turner hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 31 seconds left. She also nailed a pair of free throws with 10.7 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
“Leah has been doing that her whole career,” Griffin head coach Roy Johnson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “She is definitely one of the best players in the state. She knew when she was letting them go that she was going to make those shots. She believes in herself, and she believes in her team. I trusted her when she made the decision to let them fly.”
The Lady Bears captured their third win over Baldwin this season on Wednesday. Both teams are both in Region 2-AAAA, and the championship game was the fourth matchup between Griffin and the Bravettes in 2022-23.
Baldwin led 43-36 with 6:18 left in the fourth quarter following a basket by leading scorer Janaye Walker; however, the Lady Bears started to chip away at that lead in the final six minutes.
Griffin's leading scorer, Aaliyah Duranham, pulled her team to within five points after a layup at the 5:50 mark. Turner then cut Baldwin’s deficit to two a few minutes later with a long triple.
A few minutes later, Walker hit a layup, extending the Bravettes' lead back to four points (45-41). The Lady Bears wouldn’t go quietly, though, as they responded with under three minutes left.
Griffin’s Zy Thompson nailed a jumper inside the paint at the 1:47 mark, which cut Baldwin’s lead to two. The Bravettes’ last basket came two possessions later as Kassidy Neal made a tough layup down low to put them back up four points (47-43) with 1:25 left.
Lady Bears’ guard Zamiyah Hosley then buried a logo triple 18 seconds later to pull her team within one point. Turner followed up her teammate's 3-pointer with a five-point spurt of her own. Her effort in the final 31 seconds of regulation capped off a great comeback by Griffin.
Duranhan led the Lady Bears in points (20) and rebounds (seven). Turner followed in scoring with 17 points for Griffin. All of her field goals (5 of 17) came from beyond the arc.
Walker registered a double-double with 21 points and 19 rebounds for Baldwin. Neal was the only other Bravette player in double-digits as she added 12 points against the Lady Bears.
A huge reason Griffin came out on top was its 3-point shooting. The Lady Bears shot 40.9 percent (9 of 22) from beyond the arc, while Baldwin didn’t make a 3-pointer in the loss.
Also, Bravettes’ leading scorer Madison Ruff, who averaged 13.2 points per game coming in, only totaled three points. Despite playing 29 minutes, Griffin was able to hold her in check throughout the night.
Baldwin led for most of the game and had a five-point advantage heading into the break. Despite trailing by two points at the end of the first quarter, the Bravettes went on a 15-3 run in the second to take a 24-14 lead with 2:32 left.
Baldwin held a 25-20 advantage at the half over the Lady Bears, who played a great third quarter. Still, the Bravettes led 37-36 heading into the fourth.
Griffin's defensive effort in the final quarter of regulation was clutch, despite trailing by as many as seven points. Either way, the Lady Bears held Baldwin to just four points in the final 6:18 of play.
“It was kind of great that our first opportunity [in the state title game] was against somebody we knew instead of playing somebody unknown. We knew we had to box out. We knew that Janaye (Walker) was a beast inside,” Johnson told the AJC after the game. “So, it was easy for us to make those adjustments knowing that we’ve seen these young ladies three other times. They just wanted to fight so badly, and win. It was great.”