JMA girls earn elusive championship berth

Published 10:11 am Thursday, February 27, 2025

First-year head coach. Replacing four starters, including a couple of 1,000-point scorers. A No. 7 seed. None of that is stopping John Milledge Academy girls basketball from playing for a state title.

The Lady Trojans on Wednesday won their Final Four matchup 53-29 over Westminster of Augusta to reach the GIAA Class AAA championship round. John Milledge (13-15) is set to face No. 1 Lakeview Academy of Gainesville Friday in a 6:20 p.m. tip at Columbus State University.

JMA head coach Jordan Walters’ girls had one major objective in the semifinals – stop and/or slow down Westminster leading scorer India Williams, who was averaging 32 points per game. The junior guard had put up 61 in her team’s Elite Eight upset over No. 3 Piedmont Academy.

Williams looked poised for another big night Wednesday as she had 15 points in the opening period against JMA, but she scored only 12 more the remainder of the game. Flustered, the rest of the Westminster offense could muster no more against the Lady Trojan defense that put together one of its best performances of the season at the right time.

Now the John Milledge girls are getting ready for one more game. They’ll do something none of the program’s four previous Final Four teams did, which is compete for the top prize. The opponent is top-seeded Lakeview Academy, who advanced via 47-44 win over No. 4 Frederica Wednesday. The Lakeview Lady Lions are 21-7 this season and are trying for a repeat after having won it all last year. It’ll be a tough test for the Lady Trojans, but winning championships isn’t supposed to be easy.