Top-ranked Hebron Christian and No. 3 Holy Innocents’ will meet in the championship game for the second consecutive season after their victories in the GHSA Class 3A-A Private girls basketball semifinals Friday afternoon at Akins Ford Arena in Athens.
Hebron Christian (29-1) got 21 points from Gabby Minus and led most of the way in a 71-62 victory over No. 2 St. Francis. The Lions will be playing in their sixth straight championship game and seeking their fourth state title.
Holy Innocents’ (24-6) reached its ninth state final in 13 seasons with a 49-44 victory over seventh-ranked Greater Atlanta Christian. Makayla Weaver and Loriel Murray scored 15 points for the Golden Bears.
Last year, Hebron Christian was No. 1 and Holy Innocents’ was No. 3 when they met in the finals, where the Golden Bears pulled off a 57-39 upset to win its fifth state title.
Against St. Francis Friday, Hebron Christian never trailed after a 3-point play by Noriah Nelson made it a 31-28 game with 1:48 remaining in the first half, and the Lions put the game away with a 12-2 run over the first four minutes of the fourth quarter that built the lead to 68-50.
Hebron Christian had won 12 consecutive games by 40 points or more since a 60-49 victory over Class 4A semifinalist Kell on Jan. 19. The streak of lopsided victories had Lions coach Jan Azar a little concerned her team might have lost its edge.
“That definitely was a concern,” Azar said. “In those games, though, it did give us a chance to work on a lot of our half-court, run-the-clock offense, which you couldn’t tell from the end of this game the way we were throwing it all over the place. The beginning of this game and the end of it were similar. It was just chaos, and we kind of fell into that chaos. So we’ve got to be better in the state championship game.”
Minus, the Region 8-2A player of the year and a Tennessee signee, and Alanna Beckham got the Lions going early, combining for 16 of Hebron Christian’s 20 first-quarter points.
“She’s a team kid, but today she had to take over a little bit, and she did,” Azar said of Minus.
Michel Robbins scored 17 points for the Lions, Beckham added 16, and Nelson had 13.
St. Francis (26-5) had three players in double figures — Giaunni Rogers with 20, Cam Golston with 18 and Aila Courtenay with 15.
Holy Innocents’ trailed GAC 16-12 midway through the second quarter but held the Spartans scoreless over the next eight minutes and scored nine points of their own for a 21-16 lead.
GAC pulled even by the end of the third quarter and led 36-32 with 6:01 to play, but two free throws by Weaver, along with a free-throw-line jumper and a 3-pointer by Elana McMasters, gave Holy Innocents’ the lead for good at 39-36 with 3:48 remaining. The Golden Bears went 6-for-6 on free throws down the stretch to preserve the victory.
McMasters finished with 11 points for Holy Innocents’. Milan Johnson had 13 points, and Peyton Frazier had 12 for Greater Atlanta Christian (23-8).
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