Kendrick vs. Spalding

Written by Larry Williams

2010 GHSA State Championships Elite 8 - Class 3A Pressure, Pressure and more Pressure Jazmin Thomas helps lead No. 1 ranked Kendrick into the Final Four. Columbus, GA - The Lady Cherokees from Kendrick started the game applying fullcourt pressure and they didn't stop until had punched their tickets to Macon and the Final Four. Deshanti Lewis drives past Spalding's Shakeva Richards for two. Led by Jazmin Thomas, Trieanca Colbert, Deshanti Lewis, Janal Merritt, Simone High and Erica Stanley; Kendrick the No.1 ranked team in Class 3A was just too much for Spalding to deal with. Spalding's Head Coach Demetrius King had the right ideal to try and deal with the Kendrick pressure but just didn't have enough real ball-handlers to execute his plan. Deshanti Lewis drained a pair of three-pointers in the first-quarter as Kendrick jumped out to a 16-7 lead. Kendrick's pressure not only comes on the defensive end of the floor but they are constant motion on the offensive end of the floor and they can knock down the three; Lewis would knockdown her third three-pointer and Simone High made a couple of sweet moves to score to increase the lead to 29-15 heading into the half. Kendrick started pressuring Spalding as soon as they left the locking room to start the third-quarter and they could afford to as Head Coach Sterling Hicks shuffled in a new player every other possession. A jumper by Jazmin Thomas put Kendrick up 38-19 with just under 2:00 minutes left in the quarter. Kadejah Matthews a 6'-0" sophomore looks promising for Spalding; she scored a couple of baskets in the third-quarter to lead the Lady Jaguars. Spalding's 6-0 sophomore Kadejah Matthews is going to be a good player. Kendrick's lead would continue to grow as the game drew to its conclusion. Despite their inability to get into any real flow of the game Spalding played on and they played hard; I have to give them a lot of credit they were just in above their heads in this one. Kendrick now takes their No.1 ranking into the Final Four where they will met the winner of the Carver-Atl/Franklin County game. The Final Score: Kendrick 61 - Spalding 28 Scoring Recap: Kendrick: Deshanti "Shay" Lewis scored a game high 17 points to pace Kendrick. Jazim Thomas added 13, and Trieanca Colbert chipped in with 8. Spalding: Kadejah Matthews scored 11 points to lead the Lady Jaguars and Shakeva Richards added 8.