Tense night leads Bravettes to region title

Published 2:54 pm Monday, February 17, 2025

One year ago, Kizzi Walker was screaming at her Bravettes to calm down early in a region championship game.

One year later, people are having to calm the head coach down. They did, and what was a tense night of championship basketball at the James A. Lunsford court Friday led to a repeat for the Baldwin High girls. The Region 4-AAA title went to the defending state champion Bravettes over the Cross Creek Lady Razorbacks of Augusta in a 60-46 final.

“A close one,” said Walker afterwards. “They tested us and our guard play. We finally came around and did what we needed to to win. Very intense. We haven’t had a whole lot of people to pressure us like they did at the beginning where they couldn’t handle it. We had to whip them back into shape. Coach Haynes did a wonderful job calming them down because I was irate at the digression we showed.”

At first, it looked like it would be a pretty calm night. Janaye Walker, senior center, was unstoppable for a stretch as Baldwin took a 10-0 lead, and Cross Creek didn’t score until 4:02.

But in the first half, the Bravettes would commit 17 turnovers. While the home team defense employed its usual 1-3-1 zone, Cross Creek had a lot of perimeter success.

The first quarter ended at 13-8 in favor of Baldwin, Cross Creek scoring the final basket on the sixth turnover in the final four minutes. The second quarter began with the Lady Razorbacks intercepting the inbound pass and creating another takeaway with its full-court pressure. But while the press led to a lot of Baldwin’s problems to that point, when the score was 14-11, the Bravettes then committed three turnovers in the halfcourt.

Without possessing the basketball, it’s hard to score points. The Baldwin girls didn’t get a basket from the floor in the second quarter until 3:54 on a Kassidy Neal jumper. They were still in front, 16-13, but only added two foul shots afterwards amid four more giveaways.

Cross Creek made its first 3-pointer of the game to beat the halftime buzzer and trailed 18-16. The Lady Razorbacks made a few more of those long-range shots in the second half, but the Baldwin backcourt did redeem itself, as the coach noted. Even though the half began with a turnover, it was the first of only five in the third quarter.

Cross Creek took its first lead knocking down a 3 one minute into the period. Baldwin quickly flipped the advantage back their way and got steals from Zuri Grant and Trinia Lawrence not to mention a few blocks and altered shots by Janaye Walker.

After an 8-0 Baldwin run, Walker and sophomore forward Suri Clark scored on put-backs. Adding defense-to-offense work by the guards and a familiar connection between Neal and Walker, the Baldwin lead was 36-22. To end the quarter, Clark assisted two by the fourth post threat, Kyla Levester, for a 38-27 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Walker had four more points as did Clark in the fourth period, and Walker’s outlet to Grant helped offset the 3’s from Cross Creek. The Lady Razorbacks had three in the third period and four in the fourth.

“Thanks to my coaching staff for getting in (the guards’) ear,” said coach Walker. “Making them know who they are and what they can accomplish. We always preach to them to play team ball. It’s not a one-man team. Everybody needs to play together to get that win.”

She added they still need to fine-tune some things like getting out on the shooters when they are making those 3s.

“They hit us hard at first and rattled us,” said Walker. “But we got the championship.”

The Bravettes also beat Howard in the region semifinals held Thursday 59-23.

But even as the No. 1-ranked team by Sandy Spiel’s in Class AAA, the MaxPreps power rankings only had the Bravettes No. 13 in the class. By winning region, Baldwin was assured a top-eight seed for the GHSA AAA tournament, which is now based on the power rankings and not by region placement.

On Tuesday, Feb. 18, Baldwin’s girls – No. 7 in the tournament seeding – hosted Adairsville High in the first round. If they won, the second-round opponent is either Bainbridge or White County.