The first round of the state tournament resumes Wednesday.
Here are some observations from Tuesday’s opening girls games.
AAAAAA:
-West Forsyth won its first state-playoff game in history with a 65-51 victory over Mill Creek. It was not unexpecrted – West Forsyth is ranked 10th and is the Region 6-AAAAAA champion. But it would've been a shame if West had not broken through in the senior season of star post player Jenna Staiti, a four-year starter who has signed with Maryland and is probably the state's top senior prospect. Staiti scored 35 points and had 12 points in the win.
-The only road team to advance was Mountain View, a 46-41 winner over Northview. Freshman Maya Richards scored 18 points. The result was not a big surprise, as Northview (16-13) finished fifth in Region 6 in the regular season.
-There are five more girls games Wednesday in the highest class. Those include games involving No. 1 Tucker (vs. Campbell) and defending champion McEachern (vs. Valdsosta).
AAAAA:
-Fifth-ranked Warner Robins routed ninth-ranked Glynn Academy 53-32 in the only girls first-round girls game in any classificaton between ranked teams. Glynn was No. 1 for a brief spell this season. So was Warner Robins. Keiza Holmes had 14 points, eight steals and three blocked shots.
-There are two games slated for Wednesday – Stephenson at Creekview and Miller Grove at Sequoyah.
-Region 8 swept Region 5. The games were all blowouts, though, including No. 2 Flowery Branch’s win over Lithia Springs. Winder-Barrow’s victory was the girls program’s first since reaching the Class AAA semifinals in 1993. Note that Hiram and South Paulding have still never won state-playoff games.
R8 #4 Winder-Barrow 53, R5 #1 Villa Rica 32
R8 #3 Gainesville 69, R5 #2 Hiram 66
R8 #2 Loganville 61, R5 #3 South Paulding 45
R8 #1 Flowery Branch 58, R5 #4 Lithia Springs 50
AAAA:
-Griffin was the only road team to win. The Bears beat Westover 59-51 in Albany. Griffin is ranked No. 9, so it was not a real upset. Griffin trailed 28-21 at halftime, but an 11-0 run in the third quarter put Griffin in control. Andeija Puckett scored 19 points.
-Ranked teams went 8-0. Playing Wednesday are No. 4 Buford (vs. Whitewater) and No. 7 Jonesboro (vs. Bainbridge).
-Burke County won its first-ever state playoff game, beating Howard 44-42. Deryanna Evans scored 22 points and had 14 rebounds, according to Burke's MaxPreps boxscore.
-Arabia Mountain (opened 2009) plays at Heritage-Ringgold (2008) on Wednesday. One will get its first-ever state-playoff win.
AAA:
-Ringgold beat 10th-ranked East Hall 69-50. That was the only ranked team to lose in the AAA first round. Ringgold stopped East Hall from scoring on 15 of East's first 16 possessions, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Ringgold senior Bethany Headrick led all players with 23 points and 20 rebounds.
-No. 1 Morgan County and No. 2 Laney open Wednesday. Morgan plays Rockmart; Laney plays Central of Macon.
-Assuming that Morgan and Laney win, the home teams will be 15-1 in the first round. The road survivor was Jefferson of Region 8, a 60-48 winner over Pepperell of Region 5.
-Jackson-Atlanta, ranked No. 3, won easily as expected – 61-23 over Tattnall County. Jackson had never won a state-playoff game. The Jaguars had lost eight straight going back to the days when Jackson was known as Southside.
-Adairsville lost to ninth-ranked West Hall 73-48, but there was a moral victory there. Adairsville was playing in its first state tournament since 1958.
AA
-The Top 10 went 10-0.
-Greater Atlanta Christian, ranked No. 7, was the only road winner, although three games will be played Wednesday. GAC of Region 6 beat Armuchee 74-60. Lovett, a No. 4 seed, showed how tough Region 6 is in a close loss (56-51) to fourth-ranked Model, the Region 7 champion.
-Region 6 will have more opportunity to showcase itself in the second round when No. 3 Wesleyan plays at No. 8 Vidalia and No. 7 GAC plays at No. 8 Vidalia.
