Baldwin beats Hardaway to claim Georgia Class 4A girls basketball state championship
MACON, GEORGIA – Coaches often warn their players that you just can't "flip a switch" and turn a difficult situation into a victory. In the second half of Wednesday's GHSA Class AAAA girls basketball state championship game, at the Macon Centerplex, something definitely lit up for the Baldwin girls.
Mired in a horrendous offensive performance and trailing Hardaway by 16 points in the third quarter, the Braves suddenly went on a tear, outscoring the Hawks 38-12 over the final 13 minutes of the contest to power their way to a 47-39 victory.
Baldwin survived a rough offensive performance in the first half and overcame a 16-point second half deficit to rally past Hardaway for a 47-39 victory in Wednesday's GHSA Class AAAA Girls Basketball State Championship game in Macon, Georgia.
On player who definitely turned up her intensity was Madison Ruff, who score 9 of her team-high 17 points in the fourth quarter to fuel the surge.
Baldwin was completely ineffective on the offensive end during the first half, managing just 9 points. The Braves continued to struggle at the outset of third quarter as Hardaway went on a 10-0 run to build a 27-11 advantage with 5:20 remaining in the period.
Baldwin, however, was a completely different team following a timeout. Janaye Walker, one of the team's few offensive bright spots up to that point, broke the Hardaway run with a free throw and then scored on a layup to kickstart at 14-2 run by the Braves which pulled them within four, 29-25, heading into the final quarter.
Ruff, who added 8 rebounds in the victory, and Walker, who had 15 points and 13 rebounds in the contest, took over from there. Once the Braves claimed the lead, Walker scored five points over the final two-and-a-half minutes and Ruff went 4-of-6 from the free throw line to help stretch the lead to its final margin of eight.
Kassidy Neal also had a nice game for Baldwin, scoring 9 points and collecting 7 rebounds.
Adazha Burrell was Hardaway's leading scorer with 13 points. Akilah Shelton scored 12 points to go with 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 steals and an assist. In addition, Mikayl Johnson scored 9 points, added 7 rebounds and had 3 assists.
