Saint Francis girls dominate Galloway in rematch for Region 6-A championship

ALPHARETTA, GEORGIA – Any chance of an upset was squashed in the first six and a half minutes Saturday night.

With the Region 6-A Divison 1 region championship on the line, No. 11 Saint Francis held No. 13 Galloway scoreless for the first 6:30 of the first quarter. By the time the Scots got on the board, they found themselves trailing the Knights by 14 points and they could never recover from there.

Behind a dominant performance by the Knights, who are currently ranked No. 1 in Class A Division 1, they ran away with a 71-55 win and left no doubt about who the team to beat is heading into the state tournament.

“We’re very excited,” St. Francis head coach Aisha Kennedy said. “There are four seniors on this team and they’ve been with me a long time. I want this for them. You always want the seniors to be able to go out with a ring.”

The Knights have been a perennial power in their classification for many years now. They lost

a heartbreaker to Hebron Christian in the Elite 8 last season and also lost to the Lions in the state championship game two seasons ago. Three seasons ago, they lost to Holy Innocents in the championship game.

Kennedy hopes that after all the years of heartbreak in the state tournament, this is their year.

“We’ve talked about this a lot,” Kennedy said. “The ones that were in that locker room last year know what it feels like (to lose). We’ve been holding onto that feeling so that we won’t have that feeling again. But it’s a new season. We have to take every opponent as if it’s our last game. We’re very excited and looking forward to it.”

Heading into Saturday night’s region championship against Galloway, the Knights were looking to complete the series sweep against the Scots. They beat the Scots 71-63 in early January and were expecting another good battle.

What they got, however, was a dominant first eight minutes that saw the Knights holding a 19-2 lead heading into the second quarter.

Sa’Mya Wyatt scored the first eight points of the game for the Knights and before the Scots could blink, the Knights were in full control of the game up 16-0.

“That’s the key to us being successful,” Kennedy said. “Every time we play, it’s can we start off really fast and can we take control of the game early. Usually, when we can do that, we play really well. That’s something we’ve been challenging them to do throughout the season.”

The Scots were able to get going in the second quarter and scored 18 points. Kyla Cain scored seven points in the quarter, but it wasn’t enough to threaten the Knights’ lead.

By halftime, the Knights’ lead remained strong, 34-21.

With 3:43 left in the third quarter, the Scots managed to trim the Knight’s lead to 13 points, 45-32 after a Cain layup and free throw.

But the final 3:43 of the quarter was dominated by the Knights. They finished the quarter on a 13-4 run with Trynce Taylor and Camryn Golston combining to score 10 of those points.

They led by 22 points heading into the fourth quarter, 58-36.

With the victory all but locked up, the Knights never let the Scots make a big run on them in the final eight minutes. Cain scored six more points in the fourth and Kailyn Fields and Tianna Thompson each hit a three-pointer, but the deficit was too large.

Wyatt finished her night with a game-high 21 points and was one of four Knights to score in double figures. Taylor finished with 14 while Golston scored 12 and Desi Taylor scored 10.

The Knights will receive a No. 1 seed for the upcoming state tournament while the Scots will settle for a No. 2 seed. The state playoffs start early next week.