Norcross Girls Advance to State Final Four

Norcross's march toward high school basketball immortality continued unabated Saturday night on the University of West Georgia campus as they discarded a pesky Milton squad with a 67-50 victory.

Milton got a first-hand glimpse at the hype surrounding Norcross guard Diamond DeShields. DeShields led all scorers with 22 points and was pivotal in a 13-0 Norcross run to start the fourth quarter.

“Credit to them. They’ve got some phenomenal athletes,” said Milton head coach Craig Bennett. “The DeShields girl can take the game over at any point in time and she did. You do the best you can do on her, but you can’t do much for long.”

Milton scored the first basket of the game, but never lead again after that. Norcross built leads as large as 11 points in the first half and 16 in the third quarter before Milton slowly began to cut into the lead.

The Eagles went on a 14-4 run over the final six and a half minutes of the third quarter and trailed 38-32 going into the fourth.

“We knew we had to attack them a little bit more but still stay patient with our offense,” Bennett said. “And we got some good looks in that quarter. They made some turnovers that they typically don’t make and that helped. I don’t know if it was as much as it was some of the mistakes that they were making.”

Whatever lapse in production Norcross suffered from in the third quarter, they quickly recovered from once DeShields returned to the game at the start of the fourth. DeShields scored twice in the decisive run, but she was instrumental in a defensive effort that shut down any offensive surge that Milton had been able to generate.

“Our defense was better,” said Norcross head coach Angie Hembree. “Kids were jumping to the ball, being aggressive and trying to finish with a really good quarter. But I think the defense sparked (the run).”

Geo Simms led the Eagles with 16 points, while fellow senior Nikki Dixon scored 14, despite being matched up against DeShields for most of the night.

The win puts Norcross in the final four next week at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. They will face Campbell, who was a 58-51 winner over North Cobb on Saturday in Fort Valley.

But the Blue Devils are going to take some time to relish their accomplishment before they get there.

“We’re going to celebrate,” Hembree said. “I’m not one of those kind of people who says it’s not done until whenever. I want them to celebrate tonight. I want to celebrate tomorrow. It’s a huge accomplishment that we’ve worked hard for. And Monday we’ll get to work.”

Milton finishes its season with a record of 19-6.