Top-flight opponents await Northside, Upson-Lee and Baldwin girls; a look at Wednesday's GHSA tournament games

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

 

          Central Georgia has one Class 6A and two Class 4A girls teams left in the GHSA basketball tournament.

          Congratulations, Northside, Upson-Lee and Baldwin, your reward is traveling to one-loss teams, two ranked No. 1 in three major state polls - Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Score Atlanta, and Sandy’s Spiel – and the other No. 2, all consensus rankings.

          Northside visits 28-1 Lovejoy in 6A, Upson-Lee follows up its first home playoff game and home playoff win by getting Class 4A No. 2 Henry County, 26-1.

          That’s almost the same record for 4A No. 1 Carver-Columbus (27-1), which hosts 27-3 Baldwin.

          Lovejoy is No. 1 in 6A in all three polls. Should Northside – led by Tamia Sapp, Kaliyah Little, and Tamia Nelson – pull off the upset, the Eagles get either No. 2 Winder-Barrow or consensus top-10 Creekview.

          Upson-Lee was strong in the fourth quarter to beat Westover, but will need more than the momentum and confidence from that win.

          Henry County won its first-round game by 38, and its lone loss was 73-51 on Jan. 13 to Shenendehowa of New York in a tournament in that state. The only close game since then was a 72-60 overtime win over Woodward Academy.

          Woodward was eliminated 68-59 by Baldwin, which is having an impressive year itself, stymied a bit by a region tournament loss.

          The Bravettes are ranked seventh or eighth, with losses to Beach (66-47, Jan. 1), Burke County (55-48, Jan. 9), and Burke County 66-61 in OT in the region tournament.

          Crystal Corley averages 16.1 points and Akirah Robinson 11.9 for the Bravettes. Carver, which lost 68-67 to Columbus in last year’s title game, lost to Ramsey of Alabama on Dec. 30, and has had two in-state wins then by less than 15, by 10 over Westover and 11 over Americus-Sumter.

          But West Laurens battled to a 57-42 first-round loss at Carver.

          Wednesday’s schedule is mostly of girls games, and there are some major matchups.

          Central ranked between No. 4 and No. 8, is at Tattnall County, which is ranked eighth twice and sixth once.

          The Warriors have won six straight, and reached the quarterfinals last year, as did Central.

          Lamar County is unranked in AA, and hosts Rabun County, ranked in two of the three polls.

          The Trojans are 21-6 and champs of Region 5, while Rabun County finished third in a tough Region 8, which included Putnam County, a top-5 team most of the season that fizzled at the end and was out after one game.

          The Wildcats have won six of their last seven, and the Trojans are even hotter, on a 13-game winning streak. They haven’t lost since Dec. 28, 60-52 to Marion County.

          Tomiyah Alford leads Lamar County with 22 points a game, the only Trojan in double figures. Lamar County averages about 35 rebounds a game.

          GMC’s trip to Bowdon features a pair of top-10 teams and top-10 seeds. They’re a combined 46-8. GMC lost to Wheeler County 59-47 in this round last year, while Bowdon didn’t make the playoffs.

          The same goes for Macon County’s venture to Wilcox County. The Patriots had a bye while the Bulldogs hammered Mitchell County 58-37.