Turner County rallied from an early 10-point deficit and then clamped down defensively in the second half to beat Terrell County 55-38 in the Class A public-school girls basketball championship game Thursday at the Macon Coliseum.
The victory capped off a perfect season for top-seeded Turner County (31-0) and gave the Rebels their first state title in girls basketball. The Rebels were the runners-up in 2015, when they lost to undefeated Taylor County in the final.
Xariah Office scored 22 points and Mylashia Yancey had 21, and both were instrumental in keeping Turner County in the game after the Rebels fell behind. Yancey scored 15 first-half points, including 11 of her team’s first 14. Office made two 3-pointers in the half and finished with four overall.
“Fight, fight, fight, what we’ve been doing all season long when we find ourselves in tough situations,” Turner County coach Tasha Kimble said when asked what was most impressive from her team in Thursday’s game.
Terrell County (24-4), the No. 2 seed, led 14-4 with 4:04 remaining in the first quarter on a layup by Jamya McDaniel, who led the Greenwave with 15 points. But Turner County began to chip away at the lead and eventually went in front 23-22 on a layup by Brishuana Barnes. The Rebels increased the lead to 32-28 at halftime and pulled away from there.
Terrell County struggled offensively in the second half, shooting just 12.5 percent from the field (4-for-32), 22.s percent from the free-throw line (2-for-9) and 0-for-3 from 3-point range.
“It starts with our defense, as always,” Kimble said.
Turner County wasn’t much better from the field in the second half, shooting 27.8 percent (5-for-18), but it made 11 of 14 free throws to put the game away.
The Rebels’ lead reached 10 points on a layup by Tyneshia Whitehead in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. Turner County played much of the period without Yancey, who was dealing with foul trouble, but Terrell County wasn’t able to get it any closer.
“We’ve been prepared for that because I would tell them, ‘What if Mylashia gets in foul trouble? What if Mylashia gets hurt?’ Somebody’s got to step up, and that’s exactly what they did tonight,” Kimble said.
Turner County (55): X. Office 22, Burwell, Yancey 21, Barnes 5, Whitehead 4, Gilbert, Hicks, Pickett, Z. Office 1, Carithers, Hamilton 2.
Terrell County (38): Harvey 2, Jamya McDaniel 15, Timarius Whiting 9, Williams 2, Jameil McDaniel 10, Ticobia Whiting, Powell, Jordan.
