Girls hoops: Championship preview, Milledgeville tidbits

Other than the fact this should be a great game, here's what we know about this matchup heading in: dating back to last season, the Lady Golden Bears are 5-2 against Wesleyan. They won the series last year 3-1, but the Lady Wolves' lone win was the one that counted most - the state title game.

Once again, the Lady Golden Bears hold the series advantage this season at 2-1. They beat Wesleyan twice in the span of a week - including in the region title game - to take the state's top ranking from the Lady Wolves, who were knocked down to No. 3 behind Putnam County.

So here the Lady Golden Bears are again, one win away from their first state title since 1999, and with the Lady Wolves serving as the roadblock. Oh, and by the way, the Lady Wolves aren't just any roadblock. Led by coach Jan Azar, Wesleyan is one of the most - if not the most - dominant high school basketball programs in state history.

Azar's Lady Wolves are in the title game for the 13th season in a row. If they win on Friday, it will be Azar's 12th girls state title - the most in state history.

That's some serious prestige that must give the Lady Wolves a sense of confidence and security, and with their title win last season, one has to wonder if that's simply too much of a psychological edge for Wesleyan over Holy Innocents'.

If there is an edge for the Lady Wolves, Holy Innocents' isn't letting on that as being the case. Kaila Hubbard, who was a freshman for the Lady Golden Bears last season - and who was their leading scorer in the title game with 8 points - doesn't look too deep into what's ahead.

"We've just got to take better shots," Hubbard- who averaged 19 points in the quarters and semis - said after the Lady Golden Bears' convincing win over Putnam County in the semis. "Better clock management. Better execution. That's all."

If the way the Lady Golden Bears have stormed through this tournament is any indication, they'll check off all three of Hubbard's keys to the game. Their average margin of victory in the playoffs is 35.5 points. And they're not just pulling away at the end - they're coming out firing from the start. In the last two rounds, they raced to double-digit leads in the first quarter.

The same can not be said for Wesleyan in terms of getting off to a fast start in the two rounds heading into the championship. The Lady Wolves' tourney margin of victory (44.75 points) is actually higher than the Lady Golden Bears'. However, in the quarters and semis, they came out visibly flat both times, leading by just six and five points after the first quarter in games that they'd eventually win in blowouts.

Holy Innocents' is not an opponent the Lady Wolves can afford to come out flat against. While Wesleyan's opponents in previous rounds weren't quite skilled enough to take advantage of the Lady Wolves' slow starts, the Lady Golden Bears certainly are.

Basically, the way it's gone for the Lady Wolves is the team takes off when junior standout Mikayla Coombs - one of the nation's top players - takes off. Why the slow starts for Wesleyan in the past two rounds? In the first quarters of those games, Coombs has averaged just 2.5 points. It's tough to pinpoint the reasons for those slow starts. Maybe she's laying low to start the game in an attempt to get her teammates going first. Maybe she's not fully recovered from last season's ACL tear and it takes her some time to get going herself. Who knows?

All that's known is that Wesleyan must come out of the gates ready to fight for another championship, because this game won't be like the previous playoff games. But, of course, the Lady Wolves know that. Aside from maybe GAC, there's not a playoff team other than Holy Innocents' that they're more familiar with.

Before the tournament began, I correctly pegged Wesleyan and Holy Innocents' to meet in the title game - I also correctly picked the boys' championship matchup - and here we are. I cited redemption, and the fact the Lady Golden Bears beat Wesleyan twice just before the playoffs started, as reasons Holy Innocents' would prevail in the title game. Now, having seen both teams' last two games, I still hold the same belief.

I also believe the Lady Golden Bears want to give their coach, Tony Watkins - who's coached Holy Innocents' eight seasons now - a championship ring before he leaves. Watkins has already announced this season at the school will be his last, as he's moving on from coaching. A win over rival Wesleyan would certainly be a fitting sendoff.

But if the Lady Wolves have taught us anything during this dynastic run, it's to not count them out.

However, I think this year belongs to Holy Innocents'.

Final score: Holy Innocents' 61, Wesleyan 53

- As already mentioned, Coombs is one of the nation's top players. She's ranked No. 24 overall for the class of 2017 by espnW, in fact. She's highly coveted by the country's top programs, including perennial contender UConn. That's why it's likely no coincidence that Huskies women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma was in Milledgeville at Georgia College, where Coombs was about to lace up for the quarterfinals matchup. Auriemma is seen on Georgia College's Instagram account posing with players from the Bobcats' women's team, but it'd be naive to think he was there just for that photo opportunity.

Auriemma's presence likely indicates how big of a priority Coombs is for him, seeing as how he was in Milledgeville on Feb. 25. That means he squeezed the recruiting visit in between a Feb. 24 home game against SMU and a Feb. 27 home game against Tulane.

- On the boys' side of the tournament all games in the quarters and semis ended with double-digit victories for the advancing teams. The girls' side had a similar outcome, with just one game - a quarterfinals matchup between Putnam County and Model - having a single-digit margin. Putnam County won 51-42.

- Speaking of the Model, what an incredible player the Lady Blue Devils have in sophomore Victaria Saxton. She's listed as 6 feet tall, but she looks taller. And no exaggeration: she may be able to dunk. She can definitely get her hand above the rim, because she did so more than once while going for rebounds in the Putnam County game. The Lady Blue Devils are a young team who fielded just two seniors this season, and Saxton is a huge reason they went undefeated heading into the quarterfinals. Had she not gotten into foul trouble against Putnam County - at least two of the fouls called on her were highly questionable at best - they likely would have advanced to the semifinals. Expect to see the Blue Devils making deep playoff runs as long as she's with the program.