Wesleyan Celebrates Eighth State Title

If there was a more dominant team in any division than the Wesleyan girls, please point them out.

The Wolves won their fourth straight state title last weekend, beating Pace Academy for the Class A title in the Macon Coliseum. It was the eighth championship for coach Jan Azar’s program. It meant that Grace Leah Baughn, the team’s only senior, closed her career by never knowing how it felt to end the season with a loss.

You want a picture of how dominating the Wolves were in the state playoffs? Their margins of victory in the six playoff games were 29, 45, 64, 35, 37 and 22 points. They beat Pace Academy 65-43 in the championship game, breaking open a three-point halftime game with a tremendous second half.

Wesleyan finished the season 31-2, winning their last 21 games, the closest being an 11-point win against Buford, the Class AA runner-up. Their only two losses were 62-44 to Spring Valley, S.C., which won the state’s 4-A championship, and 58-57 to Norcross, which won its second straight Class AAAAA championship. The Wolves are No. 19 in the latest ESPN rankings, the highest of any Georgia school.

“With the schedule I put them through, to end up 31-2 is a tremendous accomplishment,” Azar said.

Looking for stars? There are plenty from which to choose, but they probably start with Baughn, an all-state player who is headed to Pepperdine. Baughn has the grace befitting a smaller player, capable of knocking down a 3-pointer, canning a baseline jumper or completing a drive to the basket, but the tenacity and smarts to get rebounding position and battle for a loose ball. Baughn finished her career by scoring 25 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and handing out six assists in the championship game. Baughn averaged 13.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists.

“For her to win four state championships is a great accomplishment, but I think her greatest accomplishment was her leadership,” Azar said. “She showed tremendous leadership on a very young team.”

Need other stars? Try mighty mite guards Brittany Stevens and Jordan Frazier, who probably wouldn’t reach the rim of the basket if they stood on each other’s shoulders. Stevens (6.8 points, 2.8 assists) and Frazier (8.5 points, 3.7 assists, 4.6 steals) ran the fast break like no one’s business and their ability to dog the other team on defense led to countless steals and fast-break baskets. Taylor Blackmon (5.6 points) and Joshlyn Belcher (5.1 points) came off the bench and filled in with no perceptible drop in skill.

Holli Wilkins, a 6-footer like Baughn, wasn’t afraid to mix it up inside and showed plenty of confidence with the short-range jumper. She averaged 12.2 points and 5.6 rebounds. Kaelyn Causwell came off the bench to average 6.4 points and 6.5 rebounds. Katie Frerking (6.1 points, 3.8 rebounds) also exhibited plenty of skill around the basket and made many important shots.

“We knew when they were in middle school that this was going to be a special group,” Azar said. “You could see them coming together and you could tell we were going to have a chance to have a long run if we continued to do things correctly.”

With everyone except Baughn returning, Wesleyan will be favored to repeat as the champion and match the accomplishment of winning five in a row, last done by Taylor County (1968-72) and Hart County, which won six straight from 1989-94.