Here are five games to watch Tuesday in Georgia high school basketball:
Archer at Parkview (girls): Archer, the 2014 Class AAAAAA runner-up to McEachern, might be the state's most talented team. Amber Skidgel, a 6-foot wing and excellent 3-point shooter, is going to Georgia. Madison Newby, a 5-7 point, is headed to Georgia State. Junior forward Autumn Newby is 6-2 and rated the No. 7 prospect nationally among juniors. Tonight's game will decide first place in Region 8. Archer is 11-2, 5-0 and ranked No. 4. Parkview is 8-3, 4-0 and No. 7. Parkview's 6-3 post Vicki Harris is committed to Rutgers and Makenna Pouengue is going to Texas Southern. Archer beat Parkview two out of three last season, including a one-point win for the region title.
Holy Innocents' at Pace Academy (boys): Pace Academy's Wendell Carter Jr., a 6-10 sophomore, appears destined to be Georgia's next elite big man on a national level. He had 26 rebounds in a game last month against Huntsville, Ala. Pace is 10-2 overall, 3-0 in Region 6-AA, and ranked No. 2. Holy Innocents' (12-2, 2-1) is No. 5. Holy Innocents' has a young team led by Travis Anderson, a freshman point guard who has guided two Georgia AAU teams to national titles. Both schools moved up to AA this season, proving there's little difference in those classifications in basketball.
Lithonia at Stone Mountain (boys): Region 6-AAAA has four ranked teams, and No. 3 Lithonia (11-1, 8-0) and No. 9 Stone Mountain (12-3, 7-1) are the surprising frontrunners ahead of No. 4 St. Pius (11-3, 6-2) and No.5 Columbia (10-4, 5-2). Lithonia hasn't made the playoffs since 2007. Tyheem Freeman, a transfer for McEachern, is the leading scorer at about 14 points per game. Point guard Rodney Chatman is committed to Arkansas State. Stone Mountain made the state playoffs last year for the first time since 2009. Senior guards Ty-meer Pierce and Chris Jones are averaging about 18 points per game, and both handle the ball well.
North Forsyth at South Forsyth (girls): North Forsyth (13-1, 7-0) is ranked fifth in AAAAAA and South (12-2, 7-0) is ranked sixth. This is for first place in Region 6. Each has an outstanding Division I recruit. South's Sarah Myers, a 5-11 forward, is committed to Maryland. North's Caroline Bowns, a 5-11 guard, is committed to Campbell. Forsyth County girls basketball wasn't taken seriously until South made its run to the semifinals last year, upsetting defending champ Norcross along the way. North made the quarterfinals. North beat South two out of three last season, including a four-point win for the region title.
Wheeler at Pope (boys): No one expects AAAAAA No. 1 Wheeler (13-1, 5-0) to lose a game in Region 5, but the biggest test comes tonight against Pope (13-1, 7-0). Pope has lost only to Spain Park of Alabama and is ranked No. 9. Chase Hutchins, a 6-2 point guard, and Garrick DeBowles, a 6-5 forward, are seniors averaging 20 points or better per game. They'll have to contend with Wheeler's 6-7 forward Jaylen Brown, the consensus No. 2 recruit in the nation. Wheeler showed it was human last week when the Wildcats blew a fourth-quarter lead to West Linn, Org., and lost 70-62 in Portland.
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