CFCA Lancers win third championship in six years with 56-49 win over Trinity Christian

Macon’s Central Fellowship Christian Academy girls basketball team won the GIAA 2A State Championship Saturday afternoon, defeating the Trinity Christian Crusaders 56-49 on Columbus State’s court to finish off their season 24-4 and get their third trophy in the past six years.  

Head coach Harold Riley didn’t mince words. 

“We’ve been in this situation,” he said.  

The Lady Lancers are no stranger to winning basketball. In the 2020-21 season, they went 28-1 en route to a GAPPS State Championship. They immediately followed that up with a perfect season and a second title in a row.  

However, GIAA has not been as kind to CFCA. 

“The last two years we lost in the Final Four,”  explained Riley. 

In each of the last two seasons, the Piedmont Academy Cougars have ended their campaigns in the semifinals. 

“We got over that hump this year,” Riley said.  

For the Lady Lancers, the key was running the game through their bigs. Junior Morgan Riley and eighth grader Maleyah Hines were integral and helped CFCA keep pace with the Lady Crusaders.  Riley finished with 10 points on 3 of 8 shooting, while Hines scored 19 on an impressive 75% from the field. Junior Kennedy Bradshaw also boasted an impressive night, scoring 15 points, all on 3-pointers, with a 5 of 7 mark from beyond the arc.

The game started with CFCA and Trinity Christian trading buckets back and forth. Hines was  the main contributor, scoring six in the quarter. In the second, her scoring slowed, but the rest of the team dialed right in. Bradshaw hit a flurry of 3-pointers and Riley attacked from the  inside. 

Late in the game, it was junior Kennedy Bradshaw who put the Lancers on top. With three  minutes left in the fourth, CFCA led by a slim margin, before Bradshaw rattled off back to back 3-pointers to bring the score lead from four to ten. With so little time, Trinity Christian’s points  that followed were all in vain. The Lady Lancers were GIAA Champions. 

“It was a great overall  effort in the fourth quarter,” Riley said. 

CFCA Girls Basketball is also set for the future. Avery Queen is the only senior on the roster,  meaning that their core remains intact for the foreseeable future. When asked about next  season, Coach Riley seemed confident. 

“Come back to next season with the group that we have, should be the same outcome,” Riley said.