Basketball rankings: Morgan County girls take #1 spot in AAA

Morgan County is the new No. 1 girls basketball team in Class AAA.

The Bulldogs of Madison have won 13 consecutive games since a three-game losing in November against Class AA No. 1 Wesleyan and two highly ranked teams from Ohio.

Morgan County (16-13) moved into the top spot of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution rankings after the previous No. 1, Dawson County, suffered its first two losses last week against No. 7 East Hall and Class AAAA Chestatee. Dawson County fell to No. 8.

Morgan County is better known lately for its boys program, the AAA runner-up in 2015 and champion in 2014. But the girls have made the quarterfinals three of the past five seasons, albeit no further since its championship team of 1983.

In the boys rankings, it was not a good week to be ranked No. 2.

Four second-ranked teams -- Shiloh (AAAAAA), Grady (AAAA), Laney (AAA) and Lovett (AA) – all lost games. Grady held its position, but the others dropped a little.

In AAAAAA, Shiloh fell to unranked Dacula 66-57 on Saturday, ending the Generals’ 29-game region winning streak. Shiloh is now No. 4. The outcome kept suspense in the Region 8 race as Shiloh (14-3, 8-1) had opened a two-game lead, but Dacula (13-4, 6-2) kept itself in position with the home victory, as did No. 10 Berkmar (11-6, 7-2).

AAAA’s No. 2, Grady, lost to new No. 3 St. Pius but kept its position. Grady (16-2, 11-1) and St. Pius (16-2, 10-2) have split two games this season. Also a factor in Region 6-AAAA is fourth-ranked Lithonia (14-4, 11-1). Grady had a good win earlier in the week against No. 8 Redan (12-6, 6-6).

Laney, the No. 2 in AAA, lost to crosstown Augusta rival Josey 66-55 on Saturday and fell to No. 5.

In AA, previous No. 2 Lovett lost to Pace Academy and fell to No. 4. Pace entered the rankings at No. 9 despite a losing record. Led by the nation’s No. 1 junior prospect, center Wendell Carter, Pace (7-8, 6-1) has lost to four out-of-state opponents and four ranked Georgia teams, including No. 4 Greater Atlanta Christian (12-7, 7-1), a Region 6-AA rival. Lovett is 12-4 overall, 6-1 in the region.

Two other highly ranked AA teams moved up a spot despite losing to AAAAA opponents. No. 2 Seminole County, the defending AA champion, lost to Bainbridge. No. 3 Crawford County lost to Northside-Warner Robins.

Aside from Pace, the only other newly ranked boys team is Worth County for Monroe in AAAA.

There are six new girls teams in the rankings, coming from three classes. Baldwin and Bainbridge replaced West Laurens and Heritage-Ringgold in Class AAAA; Jeff Davis and Lovett, both ranked earlier in the season, returned to the AA top 10 in place of Fitzgerald and Vidalia; and Terrell County and Eagle’s Landing Christian replaced Calhoun County and Lakeview Academy in A.

The only other significant change came in AAAAAA, where previous No. 3 Harrison lost to McEachern on Tuesday. Harrison dropped to No. 7. McEachern, which is 11-7 overall but has lost just once to a Georgia team, moved up to No. 6.

BOYS

Class AAAAAA

1. Wheeler (13-5)

2. Norcross (16-2)

3. Westlake (13-2)

4. Shiloh (14-3)

5. Tift County (17-2)

6. Pebblebrook (12-7)

7. Tucker (16-4)

8. McEachern (15-3)

9. Newton (16-2)

10. Berkmar (11-6)

Class AAAAA

1. Allatoona (18-0)

2. Miller Grove (17-2)

3. Gainesville (11-3)

4. Cedar Shoals (19-2)

5. McIntosh (16-2)

6. Heritage-Conyers (15-4)

7. South Paulding (15-3)

8. Riverwood (19-1)

9. Southwest DeKalb (16-3)

10. Shaw (12-4)

Class AAAA

1. Jonesboro (16-3)

2. Grady (16-2)

3. St. Pius (16-2)

4. Lithonia (14-4)

5. Eagle’s Landing (18-1)

6. Liberty County (15-1)

7. Walnut Grove (17-2)

8. Redan (11-5)

9. Sandy Creek (13-5)

10. Worth County (12-3)

Class AAA

1. Calhoun (16-0)

2. South Atlanta (14-4)

3. Jenkins (15-2)

4. Morgan County (15-3)

5. Laney (15-2)

6. Westminster (17-2)

7. Westside-Augusta (11-2)

8. Central-Macon (16-2)

9. Johnson-Savannah (12-5)

10. Banks County (17-2)

Class AA

1. Thomasville (18-1)

2. Seminole County (12-4)