North Gwinnett Girls Fall to Norcross in State Final

Check back to see photos from the big game

North Gwinnett fell behind early and couldn't recover in a 63-42 loss to Norcross Saturday night in the Class AAAAAA girls basketball championship game at the Macon Centreplex.

Norcross, which won its third Georgia High School Association girls basketball title in four seasons, used 44 points from stars Diamond DeShields (24 points) and Shayla Cooper (20 points) to beat the Lady Bulldogs, who fell behind by as many as 23 points.

North Gwinnett was led by Lexie Brown's 20 points.

See Also:

• Norcross-North Gwinnett box score, powered by Sidearm Sports
• Class AAAAAA Girls Brackets
• GHSA Basketball Home Page
• Previous GHSA State Champions

Field-goal shooting was the difference, with Norcross making more than 60 percent of its shots, and North hitting only 27 percent, according to statistics linked by the GHSA and sponsored by West Georgia Technical College.

The Norcross win avenged a loss to the Lady Bulldogs in the Region 7-AAAAAA final last month.

Norcross had to hold off a fourth-quarter rally by North Gwinnett, which got as close as 12 points before it was over.

It also was the sixth state championship for Norcross coach Angie Hembree, who has won three titles each at Norcross and Collins Hill.