No. 3 Chamblee girls beat three-time defending state champs, Southwest DeKalb

The Chamblee Lady Bulldogs used a 12-0 run in the last half of the fourth quarter to pull away to a 59-49 victory over the Southwest DeKalb Lady Panthers in a match up of Class AAAA Top 10 ranked teams.

Chamblee (16-0) entered the game ranked No. 3 in the AJC Poll while the three-time defending Class AAAA state champion Southwest DeKalb (12-6) was ranked No. 7.

Olivia Gibbs helped Southwest DeKalb close a seven point (39-32) Chamblee lead early in the fourth quarter to two (45-43) as she hit her third three-pointer of the quarter with 4:01 to play in the game.

The Lady Bulldogs answered the challenge as they had when trailing 5-0 in the first quarter and 19-16 in the second quarter with defense. By forcing several turnovers and bad shots by Southwest DeKalb, Chamblee put together a 12-2 run to put the game away.

Jasmine Camp started the run off a steal and layup and Paden Smith hit four consecutive free throws to push the lead to 51-43.

Gibbs scored Southwest DeKalb’s only points in the Chamblee run with an offensive rebound for a basket that gave her 18 points in the game, all in the second half.

Bre McDonald, who scored a game-high 22 points, answered with a drive as the Lady Bulldogs spread the floor to run the clock with 1:38 to play.
Lucy Mason then put together a pair of free throws and a steal for a basket to extend the lead to 57-45 as the game clock ticked under a minute.

Chamblee hosts the Redan Lady Raiders (13-1), No. 1 in the AJC Poll  on Saturday (Jan. 29) in a game rescheduled from January 11 due to the snow storm. The game is set to tip off at 5:30 p.m.

– Courtesy of DeKalb SID Mark Brock