BIRMINGHAM — The Keith Bears will get their shot at redemption.

The Bears (26-5) led nearly the entire way in a 52-34 victory over Decatur Heritage (23-6) in Monday’s state semifinal at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex to move on to the 1A state championship game.

Two years ago the Bears made the title game only to fall to Brantley, but now they’re back, one win away from a goal they’ve made their mission this entire year.

“It’s a chance to redeem ourselves,” Keith head coach Cecil Williams said. “A couple of years ago we made some mistakes and didn’t follow the game plan. This year we are a lot more focused.”

It showed on Monday against an outsized Eagles team. A big game from Zykia Pettway — who had 17 rebounds — helped Keith win the rebounding battle 38-27. Pettway has 43 rebounds in her last three games. The Bears also forced 21 turnovers.

“I used to think about scoring, but offense wins games and defense wins championships,” said Pettway, who also scored 12 points.

Pettway put the finishing touches on the game with a three-pointer in the final seconds. When she, who is not known for her deep shooting prowess, knocked it down, the entire Keith bench erupted in celebration. Pettway’s three was the first the Bears had made in the entire state tournament thus far.

“If we are up by 10 or more in the final 10 seconds, they are allowed to shoot the ball,” Williams said with a laugh. “In the central regional everybody shot it, and nobody made it.”

The bulk of Keith’s scoring was provided by Harriet Winchester, who scored 20 points, had 8 steals, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

“I would have to say without a doubt that she’s probably the best guard that we’ve seen,” Decatur Heritage coach Paula Armstrong said of Winchester. “I thought we did an OK job in the first half. Our whole game plan today was to rebound, control [Winchester] and rebound.”

After taking a 10-7 lead after the first quarter, Keith expanded on its advantage by taking advantage of Eagles’ mistakes in the second period. Keith scored 8 fast break points in the second and Shatavia Moore scored 6 of her 8 points in the period to give Keith a 22-14 halftime lead.

Winchester scored 14 of her points in the second half. After struggling from the free throw line early, she got in rhythm and made 8-of-13 for the game.

The Bears had 16 steals, including 4 by Amreya Snow. She also added 8 points for the Bears.

Bekah Voss led Decatur with 11 points in the game.

Keith will play Spring Garden in the 1A state championship game Thursday at 4 p.m.

Spring Garden (33-2) defeated two time defending champion Brantley 36-26 in Monday’s other semifinal.

Spring Garden has won 25 consecutive games. Keith has won 15 in a row.