MACON, Ga. — The Lady Rams’ unprecedented rise to the top of Class AAAAAA reached the pinnacle Saturday night as Newton captured the state crown — the first state title in the history of the girls basketball program.

The battle for the girls Class AAAAAA title in the Macon Coliseum set up a fourth matchup between the Newton Rams and the Grayson Rams — Region 4-AAAAAA foes that have already faced three times with Grayson winning each.

However, Saturday was a different game and head coach Jawan Bailey spoke to the differences in the teams’ fourth meeting.

“We really talked about rebounding and defense and how important it was in this atmosphere,” Bailey said. “Teams don't typically shoot the ball well here. So we knew if we could beat them on the glass and we could really make it hard for them to get good looks then we would have a chance. That’s what we did. We out-rebounded them, I think we did a great job on defense.

“They’re players still made huge plays. They are that good of a team and they have that good of a coach. We expected those things, we handled them and came out on top.”

After talking about how the team’s 3-22 finish two years ago has been motivation for the team’s current run, Bailey shared how special the moment was to be a state champion at Newton.

“It sounds amazing,” Bailey said. “We had goals at the beginning of the season and one of them was to achieve this mountain. I don't even know how we got here outside of the hard work and God’s grace. It sounds really good to be a state champion.”

Smith leads the way….again

In what was the final game of the season, sophomore London Smith shined the brightest once again for the Lady Rams in the playoffs.

After posting a 28-point game in the Final Four to knock off an undefeated North Forsyth, Smith found a way to do it again.

This time, Smith helped Newton conquer Grayson’s girls team for the first time since the 2020-21 season.

The fourth edition of the ‘Battle of the Rams’ proved to be the closest of the season.

In the opening frame, both teams traded baskets as they stayed neck-and-neck.

When the final minutes of the first quarter began, Grayson started to create separation with big plays on the inside.

However, a key three-point play from sophomore Mya Perry tied the game at 13-13 to end the frame and put an end to the momentum Grayson was beginning to have.

Grayson still found a way to have the edge early in the second quarter, though.

After going zero-for-four from beyond the arc in the first quarter, Grayson was perfect from the three-point line in the second frame as it converted back-to-back threes to start it.

Grayson went on to grab what proved to be its largest lead of the day in the second quarter when they stretched out to a 22-16 advantage.

But still, Newton did not go away as big plays from Perry and Smith kept the Rams in it.

After Smith gave the lead back to Newton with a layup, the Rams forced a blocking foul on Grayson on the other end. This foul allowed Newton to have the lead at halftime and seemed to cut all the momentum down from Grayson.

The third frame started off slow for both squads, but Newton found a way to break it open midway through the frame with back-to-back shots from Smith and Zoey Jackson.

Jackson’s three-pointer put Newton ahead 35-29.

Newton went on to lead 48-44 at the end of the third quarter, but Grayson ended the frame with a bang.

In the final seconds, Grayson’s Tatum Brown converted the and-one at the buzzer to reduce Newton’s lead down to four instead of seven.

When the fourth quarter began, an opening three from Liyah Williams trimmed the lead down to only one for Grayson.

The teams continued to trade baskets and possessions down to the final minutes as Grayson searched for big shots to put them over the edge,

However, Smith and Perry continued to find ways to get the ball down the court and to the rim which allowed Newton to keep its lead just out of reach.

With a three-point deficit, Grayson had one more chance with 12 seconds left to tie the game.

Grayson managed to move the ball down the court and get it to the hands of Williams at the top of the key, but the junior’s shot banked off the rim.

As it hit off the rim, Newton’s bench went into a frenzy as their dream of becoming a state champion became a reality.

Fourth time's the charm

Each game between Newton and Grayson in 2025 got closer and closer before Newton ultimately grabbed the game that mattered the most. 

After losses of 52-76 and 51-76, Newton came very close to knocking off Grayson in the region tournament, but fell 44-50. 

Newton’s 59-56 win over Grayson on Saturday marked only the third time in program history that the Lady Rams reached the state title game.

Newton had reached the state championship in both 1963 and 2018, but fell short of hosting the trophy both times.

Smith’s double-double leads the stat sheet for Newton

Smith once again led the Lady Rams on the stat sheet as the sophomore tallied 23 points, 11 rebounds and three assists for the double-double in the state title game.

After what many considered a breakout year for the sophomore, Bailey was more than happy that Smith got to show her talents on the biggest stage in the state.

“I am super proud that the state of Georgia now knows who London Smith is,” Bailey said. “They didn't know about her last year because of the injury. A lot of the preseason stuff that she saw didn't have her name on it and affected her in a way that I think gave her a chip on her shoulder. Man, she put the state on notice that she is one of the best guards in the Class of 2017.”

Behind Smith was Camille Files with 10 points. Perry and Desiree Davis finished with eight and seven points, respectively.

For Grayson, the scoring was led by Brown with 16 points to go along with six rebounds. Coco Randolph and Zoie Loftin followed with 15 and 11 points, respectively.

Two Lady Rams played for Bailey during the 3-22 season, and Newton’s head coach spoke about how special it was to him to have them experience the state title run.

“Two kids in particular, Jazmine Flournoy and Alissa Sandifer, those are the kids that have been here since day one,” Bailey said. “Man, just giving them a hug and letting them know how proud I am of them persevering through all the ups and downs we had to go through to get to now.”