Every Sunday, the AJC releases its top 10 polls for both boys and girls. Here's a rundown of those teams and where they're at at this point in the season.
1. Glenn Hills (20-1)
Region record: 10-1 in Region 4 (tied for first)
Notes: The Spartans went 2-0 this week with league wins over Jefferson County (75-67) and Harlem (71-36). They close out their regular season this week with three more region games, including Josey (7-15, 4-7), Screven County (8-14, 2-9) and Westside (4-18, 3-8). By all accounts, they should close out with three easy wins to enter the region tournament on a six-game win streak. Their last loss was to No. 2 Laney on Jan. 19 and the Wildcats are expected to be a serious contender for the 4-AA title.
2. Laney (19-3)
Region record: 10-1 in Region 4 (tied for first)
Notes: The Wildcats share two of Glenn Hills' final three opponents this week in Josey and Screven County, and they also play Harlem (7-15, 2-9). In all likelihood, the Wildcats will finished tied with Glenn Hills for first place in the standings when the regular season ends on Saturday. The two teams split their two region contests, though Glenn Hills beat them in a non-region game to win the season series 2-1. The Wildcats went 2-0 last week with wins over Butler (71-59) and Jefferson County (65-46).
3. Dublin (18-2)
Region record: 8-1 in Region 3 (first place)
Notes: Barring an epic collapse — the Fighting Irish would need to go 0-3 this week and have others win out — Dublin will finish first in the 3-AA standings heading into the region tournament. The Fighting Irish close out the regular season with second-place Washington County (14-7, 6-4), bottom-feeder Southwest (8-12, 4-6) and third-place Dodge County (14-5, 5-4). They went 3-0 last week against Northeast (76-66), Bleckley County (65-69) and East Laurens (75-59).
4. Thomasville (19-3)
Region record: 5-1 in Region 1 (first place)
Notes: Last week, the Bulldogs avenged an earlier loss to Berrien by beating them 72-63 to cap a 2-0 week that also saw them beat Early County 72-56. Those wins all but assured them a first-place finish in the regular season 1-AA standings, as their final two games this week are against Fitzgerald (4-11, 2-4) and Brooks County (3-20, 1-6) — teams they beat by a combined 59 points the first time they played them.
5. South Atlanta (18-2)
Region record: 8-1 in Region 6 (first place)
Notes: The Hornets can clinch first place in the regular season standings with a win at home over No. 8 Therrell on Thursday. That will be a challenge though, seeing as how the Panthers represent the Hornets' lone region loss — Therrell beat South Atlanta 71-67 on Jan. 6. The Hornets also can't afford a letdown in their other two games against B.E.S.T. (3-15, 1-7) and Washington (8-14, 6-5). They haven't lost since the Therrell game and extended their win streak to six with three wins last week over KIPP (110-48), Hapeville Charter (60-51) and Douglass (78-53).
6. Chattooga (19-2)
Region record: 11-0 in Region 7 (first place)
Notes: The Indians have already wrapped up first place in the standings in a very weak 7-AA and will likely waltz through the tournament to a region championship. Second-place Rockmart (12-9, 6-4) is the only team besides the Indians with a winning overall record in the eight-team region, and the Indians play them in the regular season finale. The Indians beat them 70-34 on Dec. 5, which demonstrates the disparity in first and second place and how in-a-league-of-their-own the Indians are compared to the rest of 7-AA. The Indians also play Coosa (9-13, 6-6) and Gordon Central (1-18, 1-11). Last week, they went 4-0 last week against Dade County (80-60), Armuchee (97-65), Pepperell (74-61) and Trion (50-45).
7. Swainsboro (18-3)
Region record: 12-0 in Region 2 (first place)
Notes: The Tigers are on their way to a first-place finish in the 2-AA standings and will close out with Metter (16-7, 7-5), Toombs County (2-19, 1-11) and non-league opponent Wilkinson County (16-6), ranked No. 7 in A-public. They went 3-0 last week with wins over Bryan County (78-49), Jeff Davis (73-56) and Effingham County (78-66).
8. Therrell (13-7)
Region record: 5-1 in Region 6 (second place)
Notes: The Panthers are tied with South Atlanta in the loss column and if they can run the tables this week by going 3-0, they'll finish the regular season in first place. They've already beaten South Atlanta once, but will need to repeat that and this time they'll have to do it on the road. They play KIPP (7-16, 3-7) on Tuesday, South Atlanta (18-2, 8-1) on Wednesday and close with a tough Hapeville Charter (7-16, 5-6) team on Friday. They went 2-0 last week, including a thrilling 67-60 overtime win at Douglass and a 72-59 win over Washington.
9. Elbert County (19-3)
Region record: 9-1 in Region 8 (first place)
Notes: The Blue Devils return to the rankings and knocked then-No. 10 Banks County out by beating them 61-56 in their only game last week. The win puts them in the driver's seat for a first-place finish in the regular season. Now they just need to beat Oglethorpe County (5-15, 3-6) and Rabun County (4-18, 3-6).
10. Dodge County (14-5)
Region record: 5-4 in Region 3 (third place)
Notes: The Indians make a late debut in the rankings thanks to their 49-44 win over then-No. 9 Washington County, which capped a 3-0 week — they also beat Telfair County (74-61) and Hawkinsville (50-44). They're currently on a six-game win streak. Their stint in the rankings could be short-lived, as they close the regular season at No. 3 Dublin (18-2, 8-1), a team that beat them 65-51 on Jan. 13. They also play Southwest (8-12, 4-6) and Northeast (15-9, 6-5). Northeast beat them 57-54 on Jan. 2.
1. Laney (22-0)
Region record: 11-0 in Region 4 (first place)
Notes: The Lady Wildcats coasted to two more region wins last week over Butler (83-35) and Jefferson County (76-41) and are now two games away from a perfect regular season. One of them is against No. 5 Josey (20-2, 10-1) — the Lady Wildcats have already twice beat them — and the other is against Screven County (1-21, 0-11). Despite all of their dominance, they'll need to beat Josey on Friday to win sole possession of first place heading into the region tournament.
2. Banks County (19-4)
Region record: 9-1 in Region 8 (first place)
Notes: The Lady Leopards went 2-0 last week against Elbert County (65-29) and No. 9 Rabun County (62-43). They close the regular season against No. 4 and second-place Putnam County (18-2, 8-2) and Oglethorpe County (0-17, 0-7). The Lady Leopards have already beaten Putnam County 61-40 on Jan. 12 and doing so again will give them sole possession of first place heading into the region tournament.
3. Swainsboro (18-3)
Region record: 12-0 in Region 2 (first place)
Notes: The Lady Tigers went 3-0 last week to move up a spot in the rankings, beating Bryan County (63-35), Jeff Davis (66-48) and Effingham County (83-49) in blowout wins. They've already clinched first place in 2-AA heading into the region tournament and will play Toombs County (2-19, 1-10) and Wilkinson County (5-16) this week.
4. Putnam County (18-2)
Region record: 8-2 in Region 8 (second place)
Notes: If the Lady Eagles both of their games this week, they'll finish the regular season in first place. It won't be easy though, because they play No. 2 Banks County (19-4, 9-1), which beat them by 21 earlier this season, and Monticello (13-9, 5-5), which represents Banks County's only region loss. They moved up two spots in the rankings by going 2-0 last week, beating Elbert County (52-47) and Oglethorpe County (60-27).
5. Josey (20-2)
Region record: 10-1 in Region 4 (second place)
Notes: The Lady Eagles have a chance to shock the world and ruin top-ranked Laney's perfect season when the teams meet on Friday. This will be their third meeting and second that counts toward league standings and both games were decided by single digits, though this will be the first game played on Laney's home court. The Lady Eagles also play Glenn Hills (2-14, 1-10) and Jefferson County (10-8, 5-6). Last week, they went 2-0 with wins over Screven County (48-12) and Westside (44-31) to move up two spots in the rankings.
6. Dodge County (18-4)
Region record: 6-3 in Region 3 (second place)
Notes: The Lady Indians slipped three spots in the rankings, apparently being penalized for narrowly losing 58-52 to A-public's No. 2 Telfair County. But they also beat then-No. 5 Washington County 62-58 — knocking Washington County down to No. 10 in the rankings in the process — and Hawkinsville 54-31. They'll close the regular season with three games against Southwest (12-8, 6-4), Northeast (8-14, 2-9) and Dublin (9-9, 2-7). They will need to win out and have Washington County lose both of its games in order to claim sole possession of first place heading into the 3-AA tournament.
7. Model (18-3)
Region record: 12-0 in Region 7 (first place)
Notes: The Lady Blue Devils moved up two spots in the rankings with two easy league wins last week against Gordon Central (63-18) and Armuchee (73-47). Second-place Rockmart (15-6, 8-2) and Dade County (5-18, 5-7) stand in their way of a perfect regular-season region record, but the Lady Blue Devils destroyed both in earlier meetings this season.
8. Early County (18-5)
Region record: 7-1 in Region 1 (first place)
Notes: The Lady Bobcats moved up two spots in the rankings after going 3-0 over Brooks County (56-47), Thomasville (66-45) and Fitzgerald (60-49), concluding their regular season region schedule, thus securing first place heading into the 1-AA tournament. They close the regular season with non-region opponents Terrell County (17-4) — they beat them 66-43 on Jan. 16 — and Miller County (6-11), whom they beat 83-35 on Jan. 9.
9. Rabun County (17-5)
Region record: 5-4 in Region 8 (third place)
Notes: The Lady Wildcats dropped one spot in the rankings after losing handily to No. 2 Banks County, 62-43, to cap a 2-1 week in which they beat Franklin-S.C. (78-38) and Monticello (78-52). They'll close the regular season against Elbert County (12-10, 5-5) and Oglethorpe County (0-17, 0-7).
10. Washington County (16-6)
Region record: 8-2 in Region 3 (first place)
Notes: The Lady Golden Hawks slid five spots but stay in the rankings despite going 1-2 last week with losses to No. 6 Dodge County (62-58) and East Laurens (63-56), with those losses being part of a three-game losing streak dating back to the previous week. They'll close their regular season against Dublin (9-9, 2-7) and Bleckley County (14-8, 5-6).
All stats and records are sourced from MaxPreps. Follow the AJC's Class AA coverage on Twitter.
Credit: Adam Krohn
Credit: Adam Krohn
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