GA Lady Fire repeat as AEBL champions

GA Lady Fire repeat as AEBL champions

By Robert Alfonso Jr. 

ATLANTA, Ga. – Ty Young shot the Georgia Lady Fire into the record books.

The former WNBA veteran had a scoring stretch in the second quarter finishing with 33 points, which was enough to sustain the Fire, who beat The M.O.B 99-93 in the second annual women’s AEBL championship at Kipp Atlanta Collegiate on Sunday. It was the team’s second consecutive title.

Young earned the game’s Most Valuable Player award. She also finished with eight rebounds. 

Getting the victory was not easy.

The Lady Fire picked up the heat in the second quarter thanks in large part to Young’s performance. She went on a scoring barrage in a five-minute stretch that helped extend the Fire’s lead to double digits. The defending champions looked like they were going to run away with the game’s 59-48 halftime lead.

The MOB had other plans.

April Sykes, Crystal Bradford, and Ezinne Kalv made sure it would lead the charge on the comeback.

Sykes, who was solid the entire game, knocked down shots from all over the floor. She mixed it up inside and out. Bradford used her length to punish the Lady Fire on both ends of the floor. Her defensive presence led to easy fast breaks, which she benefitted from finishing with a team-high 29 points. Sykes finished with 24 points. Kalv was a defensive catalyst with her on-ball pressure disrupting the Fire’s offense. A number of deflections, a handful of steals, and several timely assists by Kalv were part of the comeback. She finished with 18 points in the game.

Things got tight in the final quarter before Young, who did not score the entire third quarter, got hot again along with Aliyah Collier, Stasha Carey, Ameyst Alston, and Breanna Richardson. Each of them scored a basket in the final minutes of the game to help seal the game. Collier finished with 16 points. Carey added 13. Alston chipped in with 11 points. Richardson poured in 10 points.