Successful basketball season nets state title for Byne Christian girls, state runner-up finish for boys

Byne Christian’s girls and boys basketball teams each had a shot at a Georgia Christian Athletic Association state championship late in the winter with mixed results.

The boys earned their way into the title game with wins over Grace Christian Academy (79-57) in the quarterfinals and War Hill Christian (67-53) in the semis before falling to King’s Way 66-62 in the finals.

For the girls, however, the third time was the charm after coming up short in the final seconds of the finals the last two years.

Wins over Mountain Area Christian (42-25) in the quarterfinals and War Hill Christian (25-23) in the semis gave the Saints a third crack at the title against Old Suwanee.

They took advantage of it when game Most Valuable Player Kylee Williams sunk a pair of free throws inside the final minute to lift Byne to a 38-36 win.

Jayden Watts also reached double figures with 15 points, while Ashlee Manville added three key points as the Saints posted their first GCAA state title since 1997

“I am so proud of these girls and so proud to be their coach,” Byne girls coach Paul Malone said. “We overcame all sorts of adversity this year. This weekend was the first time all season that I had all of the girls available to play due to COVID-19 and injuries.

“These girls never lost sight of the goal and were focused and never wavered this season. We used to be everyone’s homecoming game when I first took over six years ago, and now to win the state championship after losing in the final seconds the previous two years, it’s special, man.”

This time, it was Williams who helped Byne come up big in the final seconds of a back-and-forth fourth quarter against Old Suwanee.

The 5-foot-9 sophomore drove the basket and drew a foul with 25 seconds remaining before sinking both free throws to vault the Saints into the lead at 38-36.

Byne had to come up with two more defensive efforts in the final seconds, first forcing a turnover from Old Suwanee and then collecting a defensive rebound just before the buzzer sounded to secure the win.

The Byne boys weren’t quite so fortunate after earning their way into the championship game with back-to-back strong second-half efforts to cruise to double-digit wins.

There, the Saints ran into foul trouble in the first half and trailed three-time defending champion King’s Way 32-26 by halftime.

Byne battled back in the second half behind senior Caleb Williams and junior Jake Dismuke to pull even at 57-all with just under three minutes to play.

But the Saints succumbed when starters Dismuke and Morris Fountain fouled out — two of five players to foul out for the game, leaving Byne with only four players on the court.

King’s Way took advantage and closed out a 66-62 win for its fourth straight state title.

Williams led Byne with 26 points, while Dismuke added 22 and Fountain, who had scored 25 and 20 points respectively in the quarters and semis, finished with eight in limited playing time due to fouls.