Military Magnet Breezes Past Great Falls For Repeat Of Girls 1A State

By WORTHY EVANS

Contributing Writer

Columbia – Military Magnet’s girls basketball team wasted no time earning its second straight 1A state basketball championship.

Eighth-grader Mariah Brown had 25 points, freshman Kaleah Brown-King had 11 points and seven rebounds, and the team’s only senior Da’Nariyah Williams had 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals as the Eagles defeated Great Falls 70-21 Saturday at Colonial Life Arena. 

After last year’s 59-40 state championship win over Lee Central, six seniors, including leading scorers Dream Watson (14.5 points per game) and Sabri Mitchell (11 points) moved on. Rather than use the season as a building block, the young Eagles (26-4) claimed the team’s fifth state championship.

“It’s kind of unreal. The team is so young, you know,” head coach Nathaniel Taylor said. “We prepared for it, we worked hard for it, but now we’re in the moment, it’ll take some time for it to sink in.”

Taylor praised this year’s team for its growth with last year’s senior class, and taking their leadership to heart. Williams was the principle student last season and became the team’s leader for this championship run.

“They waited their turn,” Taylor said. “They practiced with Dream and Sebri, (Jada) Davis, the whole time. They understand, especially Da’Nariyah, to wait your turn. She had to play ball with a whole bunch of young ladies. I appreciate her and her family.”

Williams, who averaged 16.4 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, led more on the court than the stat sheet Saturday. Williams opened the game with a 3-pointer and had two 3s in the first quarter, while Brown, Brown-King, Lamaria Brown and Destinee Wilson combined for 16 points in that period. 

Up 22-5 after one period, Military Magnet followed up with a 28-point second quarter to take a 50-13 lead on the Great Falls (22-4) into intermission. The second half was played with a running clock.

Just being at the final game was a large accomplishment for the Red Devils, head coach Deshonia Cauthen said. 

People said we weren’t supposed to be here. They didn’t know who Great Falls was. The more we won, the more that people were able to see us coming. We’re young, but we’re coming. Once we got to 10-0, we lost and they got a taste of it, the bitterness of it, and they didn’t want to lose anymore. We were able to build off of that. 

In the upper-state championship the Red Devils took it to overtime and beat Lee Central 40-34 in overtime.

We weren’t supposed to win that game but we won, They didn’t give up, and that was a part of the idea of defense and not giving up, and that’s what led us here today. We only lose one senior, and we have some more coming down the pipe.” 

Seventh grader Makenzie Beatty led Great Falls in scoring this season with a 19.4 scoring average. Junior London Williams averaged eight points per game and Freshman Grace Page averaged 8 points and a team-high 8.4 rebounds per game.

Military Magnet       22       28       11       9         –         70

Great Falls                5         8         4         4         –         21

Military Magnet

Mariah Brown 25, Kaleah Brown-King 11, Da’nariyah Williams 10, L.Brown 8, Pinkney 6, Wilson 5, Gates 3, Smith 2, 

Great Falls 

Beatty 8, Williams 6, Holmes 3, Page 2, Rice 2.