The second round of the GHSA basketball tournament was very much a mixed bag for Central Georgia teams, boys and girls.

Only three girls teams remain, Stratford the lone home team in the quarterfinals. Seven boys teams are still alive, and goodness, only Baldwin will be at home in the quarters.

Thursday morning’s universal coin flip made the top teams in the brackets the home team if both seeds were the same, and most all of Central Georgia was on the bottom half.

And there were no needed upsets for the locals to stay at home.

The Central Georgia girls teams had a mighty rough Wednesday with 10 losses, only four by single digits and two by a possession.

Washington County went to Fitzgerald and fell by 3, while Taylor County nearly pulled off a huge 15-over-2 seed upset, losing by 2 to Terrell County.

Margins of defeat after that ranged from 11-29, with four of at least 20 points.

The surprise margin might have been Region 5 champ Lamar County’s 20-point loss to Region 8’s third-place Rabun County. A loss wouldn’t have been an upset – Region 8 still has two teams left – but that big a margin wasn’t necessarily expected.

A loss that’ll sting belongs to Central, which was 7-2 on the road before heading to Tattnall County. And those losses were to playoff teams, Class 6A Northside, and Class 4A Baldwin. Technically, the region tournament loss to Peach County was on a neutral site.

The Chargers had a 14-0 lead, which would normally have been a precursor to about a 25-point win. But Tattnall County, now 24-5, had only one loss in 2018 and was 10-1 at home.

Six Central Georgia boys teams lost in the second round, with only one coming by more than 12 points.

The toughest loss belongs to Stratford, which lost the battle of depth with 16-11 Greenforest. The Eagles’ standout freshman Jaden Harris barely missed a fairly normal but contested 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Thomasville was among those on “upset” watch, although losing to Dublin isn’t really an upset. But the Irish couldn’t get over the hump early, and then the hump got bigger. They rallied late, but the hump returned.

Central had a little more trouble with 9-win Long County than many may have expected, but the Chargers took care of business

The home court wasn’t very nice to Washington County, which lost to third seed Vidalia by six. The Golden Hawks’ home losses had been to Baldwin and Dodge County, and the Indians were a pretty good 7-4 on the road. They got the lead for good at 19-16 in the second quarter, and Washington County spent the rest of the game in comeback mode.

Monticello almost became the darling of AA as a four seed in the quarterfinals. Tri-Cities and Lakeside-Evans in 6A and Campbell in 7A are the only four-seeds left.

The Hurricanes were a solid No. 4, with double-digit losses nly to Class 4A Jones County (82-64 in November), Class 2A Elbert County (75-64), Class 4A Mary Persons (88-75).

Warner Robins got a quality effort from Eagle’s Landing, but a bigger effort from Jacolbey Owens, who had 33 in the run-fest at Veterans in 5A.

Big Salem had linebackers on the perimeter, but the shooting was inconsistent, although the Seminoles kept the crowd in place until the horn at The Castle with Upson-Lee getting a rugged 8-point win.

Baldwin came up with a huge confidence boosting win, leading only a little bit but at the right times: late and at the end. The Braves welcome Cartersville, a two-seed that beat one-seed Blessed Trinity on the road by 2. Or the Braves would have traveled.

A year ago, Baldwin was one-and-done after a 64-60 first-round loss to Westover. Now, the Braves are a win away from a semifinal at Fort Valley State.

Full quarterfinal pairings with Central Georgia teams

GIRLS

Class 3A

R3 2 Johnson-Savannah at R5 1 Lovett

R2 1 Tattnall County at R6 1 Haralson County

R3 1 Beach at R7 1 Greater Atlanta Christian

R4 1 Peach County at R8 1 Franklin County, Tuesday, 6 p.m.

Class AA

R3 1 Dodge County at R7 1 Model

R4 1 Laney at R8 1 Banks County

R8 3 Rabun County at R1 1 Fitzgerald

R3 2 Josey at R6 1 Douglas-Atlanta

Class A Private

8/Christian Heritage at 1/Holy Innocents

5/Prince Avenue at 4/Stratford, Tuesday, 7 p.m.

10/Paideia at 2/St. Francis

6/Wesleyan at 3/Calvary Day

BOYS

Class 5A

R1 1 Warner Robins at R5 1 Lithonia, Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.

R4 2 Stockbridge at R8 2 Clarke Central

R5 3 Miller Grove at R4 1 Dutchtown

R3 1 Starr’s Mill at R7 1 Hiram

Class 4A

R5 2 Cartersville at R3 1 Baldwin

R1 3 Carver-Columbus at R8 1 St. Pius

R3 2 Burke County at R5 1 Sandy Creek

R2 1 Upson-Lee at R6 1 LaFayette

Class 3A

R3 1 Johnson-Savannah at R7 1 Greater Atlanta Christian

R4 1 Central at R8 1 Morgan County

R3 2 Jenkins-Savannah at R5 1 Cedar Grove

R4 2 Westside at R8 2 Hart County, Wednesday, 6 p.m.

Class A Public

7/Macon County at 2/Central-Talbotton

6/Manchester at 3/Wilkinson County

8/Woodville Tompkins at 1/Calhoun County

5/Montgomery County at 4/Lanier County