COVINGTON, Ga. – Two of the top teams in 6A basketball faced off one more time ahead of the postseason.

Saturday’s iteration of the “Battle of the Rams” ended in a similar fashion to four days prior, as the Newton Lady Rams defeated the Grayson Lady Rams 59-54 to secure their 13th consecutive victory.

In the boys game, Newton looked to finally get over the hump against a Grayson team that’s always seemed to have their number. Despite a hot start by Newton, Grayson charged back to score a 53-43 victory.

Lady Rams continue region dominance

Four days prior to Saturday’s contest, Newton defeated Grayson 53-45. After defeating Grovetown on Friday night, the home Lady Rams looked to finish off an undefeated run in Region 4-AAAAAA.

The one Achilles heel for Newton this season has been slow starts. This proved true once more after Newton was only able to score four points after four minutes. 

Grayson, however, did not fare much better, allowing Newton to keep things within reach. Newton ultimately prevailed in the first quarter, securing a 13-10 lead.

Newton began to fully settle in during the second quarter, with a quick three-pointer by Zoey Jackson and a layup by Kandice Shepard. Those two, however, would quickly get into foul trouble, with both players hitting the three-foul mark midway through the quarter.

With Jackson and Shepard sidelined, it was time for 2025 All-Cov News MVP London Smith to step up. The 5-foot-6 junior scored nine points – including two three-pointers – to lift Newton to a 28-19 lead to end the half.

Newton’s big run came in the third quarter through Smith’s playmaking. Whether it was scoring or setting up her teammates, Newton couldn’t be stopped on the offensive end.

With a 42-34 lead to start the fourth quarter, it seemed like Newton was in the driver’s seat. But a detour came in the form of Mya Perry fouling out with 7:24 left in the game.

That detour only proved to be temporary as Smith immediately went back to work, scoring her 19th point. 

After Grayson’s head coach picked up a technical foul, the margin continued to widen. Sophomore Jazmin Maddox began to catch fire, scoring all nine of her points in the fourth frame.

Smith got over the 20-point mark, too, giving the Lady Rams a 54-39 lead with 2:30 left in the game.

With the game seemingly out of reach, Newton subbed in its third unit to close out the game. But Grayson wasn’t finished.

In just two minutes, Grayson went on a 15-3 run led by senior Coco Rudolph.

Newton head coach Jawan Bailey described the move to switch out the units as a way to give all of his players playing time.

“We had senior night last night [Friday] against Grovetown,” Bailey said. “All 10 of those seniors should’ve played on senior night, and I just couldn’t find a spot in the game last night to get them in.”

With the main unit back in with 0:30 left, Newton immediately went back to work as they locked down Grayson. The game ended on a Grayson turnover and a Jamira Flournoy layup to close things out.

With Saturday’s win, Newton has now won three straight over Grayson dating back to the 2025 6A state championship game. Smith, who had 21 points, said that Newton has been able to get over that hump by mentally locking in.

“We realize that the only people that can beat us, is us,” Smith said. “That’s what I keep telling my teammates and Coach Bailey.”

Now, the Newton Lady Rams are looking to claim a region championship for the first time since the 2017-18 season. Their quest for region gold starts on Thursday when they face the winner of South Gwinnett and Grovetown at South Gwinnett. Should the Lady Rams win, they’ll go on to the region title game on Friday.

Hot start fails to equate to victory in boys game

Four days prior to Saturday’s contest, Newton rallied for a hot start against one of the state's best teams in Grayson. But Saturday’s first quarter was easily Newton’s strongest quarter this entire season.

This was in large part due to Jared White. The 6-foot-4 senior scored seven points in the first two minutes of the game. He later added another three-pointer to give Newton a 14-2 lead.

With contributions from Cayden Young, Jayden Scott and Kingston Clahar, Newton ended the first quarter with an 18-6 lead.

While it seemed like that momentum would carry over into the early minutes of the second quarter, Grayson had other plans. The third-ranked team in Georgia outscored Newton 18-7, including a 10-0 run in the middle minutes. This cut Newton’s lead to 25-24 heading into the halftime break.

After the intermission, Grayson guard Tyler Williams knocked down a three-pointer for the first and only lead change of the evening. Led by freshman standout Austin Shepard, Grayson would outscore Newton 14-5 to take a 38-30 lead.

The fourth quarter started exactly like the third, with Williams nailing down another three-pointer. But unlike the quarter prior, Newton didn’t want to repeat history.

Senior TJ Sands led Newton on a 9-2 run to give the hometown Rams new life.  A contested shot by Sands over Shepard brought the game to 44-43 in favor of Grayson with 2:15 remaining.

However, Sands’ late bucket would be the last that Newton would score. A series of turnovers and offensive miscues opened the door back up for Grayson, who secured the hard-earned victory.

Both losses against Grayson this season were close contests that showcased flashes from Newton. Head Coach Barry Browner says that in order to succeed in the postseason, they’ll need more than just flashes.

“We need to play 32 minutes,” Browner said. “I felt like when we played them on Tuesday night, we played 30 minutes of good basketball. Tonight we played the first half; I thought it was pretty good. But we need to learn to finish games.”

White was Newton’s leading scorer with 15 points, while Clahar, Young and Sands added eight points. Leonard was Grayson’s leading scorer with 14 points.

Despite a less than ideal start to the year, Newton has consistently been one of the better teams in 6A, garnering a final region record of 8-3. 

Newton’s pursuit of a region title starts on Thursday, when they face the winner of South Gwinnett and Archer at South Gwinnett. They will then play on Friday in either the region championship or consolation game.