The Region 4-AAAAA tournament gets under way on Saturday with six play-in games at Whitewater High School involving the third through sixth seeds from the two subregions.
Fourth-ranked Drew, No. 9 Forest Park, Starr’s Mill and Whitewater will be the top seeds among the girls teams, while Drew, Union Grove, Whitewater and McIntosh will be the top boys seeds. The complete brackets will be finalized at a meeting Friday. The Whitewater boys and Forest Park girls are the defending region champions.
The tournament picks up at McIntosh on Monday with four girls games. The semifinals will be Thursday and the championship and third-place games are scheduled for Friday, all at McIntosh.
Region tournaments in 5-AAAAA and 7-AAAAA also are scheduled to begin this weekend.
Here are some of the other games to watch in Class AAAAA:
*Tucker at Stephenson (boys, Friday): First place in subregion A of Region 6 is likely to be settled when sixth-ranked Stephenson and No. 3 Tucker meet for the second time in less than three weeks. Both teams have two losses in region play, but Stephenson beat the Tigers 55-47 when they met on Jan. 21. Miller Grove has clinched the No. 1 seed from subregion B. Miller Grove beat Stephenson 55-51 in the region championship game last season and went on to win its fifth consecutive state championship.
*Heritage-Conyers at Apalachee (boys, Friday): The No. 2 seed in the Region 8 tournament will be at stake when the Patriots travel to Winder for the regular-season finale. Heritage beat the Wildcats 80-74 in the teams' first meeting. Apalachee sophomore Kamar Baldwin, who averages 27.1 points per game, scored 38 against Heritage in that game, his best output in a region game this season. Both teams are 12-3 in region play. Fifth-ranked Clarke Central has clinched the No. 1 seed.
*Gainesville at Salem (girls, Friday): Third-ranked Salem has already wrapped up the No. 1 seed in Region 8, but the Seminoles (20-2, 15-0) can complete a perfect region season with a victory against second-place Gainesville. Salem won 50-38 in the teams' first meeting in Gainesville on Jan. 13. Gainesville would clinch sole possession of second place with a victory, but a loss could drop the Red Elephants into a tie with Clarke Central, which split two games with the Red Elephants this season.
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