AA blog: What to watch this weekend

Here’s what to watch this weekend in Class AA basketball:

• While most AA schools have played at least a fair portion of their region schedules, Region 5 has barely begun as most teams have played more than two games and some only one. So far, the leader is the Bowdon Red Devils at 2-0 (13-5 overall), who have a half-game lead over the No. 5-ranked Manchester Blue Devils (12-3, 1-0), Jordan (8-10, 1-0) and Kendrick (5-10, 1-0). The Red Devils and Blue Devils each play another region game and non-region game this weekend; Bowdon travels to Spencer and Villa Rica, Manchester travels to Temple and Greenville.
• Can the top-ranked Greater Atlanta Christian Spartans keep their win streak alive through the weekend? They're 20-0 after rallying from 13 down in the second half to edge Hillgrove 69-65 on Monday, extending their overall win streak to 38 games dating back to last year's successful state title run. They travel to Hapeville Charter on Friday hoping to extend another win streak of consecutive region wins, going for their 76th in a row.
• How good are the McIntosh County Academy Lady Buccaneers? They're 13-6 and 9-0 in Region 2 play heading into their biggest test of the season on Friday when they travel to Vidalia (14-5, 9-0) in a showdown for first place. The Lady Bucs are defending state champs and advanced to the second round of the state playoffs last season while Vidalia exited in the first round as a No. 3 seed.
• Saturday features a showdown of elite Lady Wolves when No. 1-ranked Wesleyan (16-2) hosts Buford (16-1), the top-ranked team in Class AAA. Between the two programs are 13 state titles since 2002. Last season, the schools played each other twice, with Wesleyan winning both games by an average of five points.