All-Area basketball teams set
Anna Claire Atha, Victaria Saxton and Jay Shropshire earn top honors.
Talent is an abundant quality when talking about girls’ basketball in the Rome area. And two players once again were the epitome of sharp skills and dedication.
For the second year in a row, Darlington’s Anna Claire Atha and Model’s Victaria Saxton are the Rome News-Tribune CoPlayers of the Year after helping guide their teams to incredible seasons that went deep into the postseason.
While the Darlington Lady Tigers blew through Region 6-A and reached the Class A Private quarterfinals, Model won a third-straight Region 7-AA title and reached the Class AA Final Four.
The common denominator for both teams was a go-to player for a basket or a defensive stop, and Atha and Saxton provided that, each proving their worth and getting better every year.
Saxton continued her dominance in the paint as a junior, while Atha closed out her Darlington career as a record holder.
Atha recorded 27.1 points per game along with 8.6 rebounds and 3.6 steals.
She broke the Darlington record for career points midway through the season, finishing with a total of 2,265 points in her four years.
She was only one of two seniors on a young Darlington squad that often played two or three freshman a game. Whether it was starting a run to get the Lady Tigers back into the game or closing it out, Atha was always the option.
Atha reached her career high in points when she scored 46 in a 58-37 win against Mt. Zion late in the season, and, in Darlington’s final win of the year — a 5751 win against Calvary Day in the second round — she scored 31 points, including 12 points in the fourth.
Saxton was similar in her impact, leading her team in four different categories by averaging 25 points, 13.7 rebounds, 4.5 blocks and 3.2 steals per game.
She roamed to all parts of the court to make a defensive play while often being a part of Model’s fastbreak offense.
It is Saxton’s speed that set her apart from most post players, as she often led a breakaway herself for an easy basket. Even when teams double-teamed her she found a way to get an open shot under the hoop.
Nothing stood out more this season than Saxton’s performance during Model’s 62-45 win against Bryan County in the Class AA quarterfinals.
She recorded a triple-double with 29 points, 25 rebounds and 14 blocks, a total that accurately represented her dominating nature.
Beyond Atha and Saxton, Northwest Georgia boasted plenty of talent, like RN-T All-Area first team selections Livia Skinner at Armuchee and Chynah Johnson of the Georgia School for the Deaf.
Skinner led her team with 16 points, four steals, six rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.
The junior reached 1,000 points for her career during a 66-38 playoff win against Lamar County. She also set an Armuchee season record for steals with 110.
Out in Cave Spring, Johnson led GSD with 28.6 points per game and was the cog that made the Lady Tigers’ machine work. She broke her own school record for most points in a single game this past season by scoring 55. At season’s end she was named to the Mason-Dixon all-tournament team for the third year in a row.