McEachern’s girls, ranked No. 1, are playing in Brooklyn against the top-rated team from New York.
Parkview and Southwest DeKalb, the raining state champions in AAAAAA and AAAAA, are playing in the Girls Night Out showcase at Brookwood. Also at Brookwood will be No. 2 Archer, which plays a top-10 team from Alabama.
North Gwinnett’s boys, ranked No. 2, are playing in Florida against top-10 teams from the sunshine state.
And on Thursday, there’s a Region 5 game between Milton and Wheeler. Granted, Thursday isn’t the weekend, but there are so many good games that the weekend must start early.
TOP BOYS GAMES
Thursday
Milton (10-6, 5-1) at Wheeler (12-4, 6-0): This was scheduled for last week but moved because of the cold weather. It would've been a battle of Region 5 unbeatens except that Milton, ranked No. 9, lost to Cherokee 42-40 on Tuesday after failing to hold a five-point lead in the final 2:30. But there's still much at stake, and it will be fun to watch. Both teams bring plenty of size that will be coming soon to college hardwoods. That would include Shawn O'Connell (6-8), Mo Lewis IV (6-6) and Chris Lewis (6-8) for Milton and Daniel Giddens (6-10), Elijah Staley (6-8) and Jaylen Brown (6-7) for Wheeler.Also note that Wheeler plays Walton (13-2, 5-2) on Friday.
Note: Wheeler beat Milton 61-55 on Thursday. Avery Patterson scored 21 points. Wheeler took its first lead with about four minutes to play. Wheeler improved to 13-4 overall, 7-0 in Region 5-AAAAAAA.
Friday/Saturday
North Gwinnett (15-3) vs. Palmetto, Fla. (9-2) and Gibbs, Fla. (13-3) – The No. 2 team in AAAAAA travels to Punta Gorda, Fla., for the Wally Keller Classic. Friday's opponent, Palmetto, is ranked No. 7 in in one Florida Class 7A poll. Saturday's opponent, Gibbs of St. Petersburg, is No. 5 in 5A. Gibbs has a 6-11 junior post named Sajon Ford that Georgia (among others) is recruiting. He's largely a project, though. The team's best player is junior guard Barry Brown (19.0 ppg, 4.6 rebounds). North Gwinnett's best all-around player is point guard T.J. Brown (18.8 ppg, 3.6 apg, 2.2 spg).
Friday
Westlake (16-1, 3-0) at Newnan (14-2, 2-0) – Newnan got a big Region 3 victory Tuesday against 10th-ranked Douglas County, winning 56-53 on the road. Newnan guard Doniel Dean is a three-year starter, and 6-7 senior forward Immanuel Griggs is one of the top power forwards in AAAAAA. Westlake is ranked No. 4 and likely moving up after No. 2 North Gwinnett lost this week to Norcross.
Saturday
Tift County (15-2, 4-0) at Coffee (14-4, 4-1) – Third-ranked Tift beat Coffee 64-61 in overtime on Friday. Another Tift victory would make Tift hard to catch in Region 1. Tadric Jackson, Tift's Georgia Tech-bound all-state guard, didn't score in the first half of last week's game but finished with 22 points.
TOP GIRLS GAMES
Friday/Saturday
McEachern vs. Nazareth Regional (13-3) and Capitol Christian Academy (8-5) – No. 1-ranked McEachern travels to the Rose Classic Super Jam to play a Brooklyn team, host Nazareth Regional, that is ranked No. 1 in New York. Bianca Cuevas, averaging 23.8 points per game, has signed with South Carolina. McEachern's point guard, Te'a Cooper, has signed with North Carolina. She's averaging 16.4 points with 4.7 assists per game. Capitol Christian is a state-ranked team from Landover, Md. Osborne of Class AAAAA also is participating in the event.
Friday
Douglas County (14-1, 3-0) at Hughes (14-2, 1-1) – Douglas County, ranked No. 6, has won 12 straight games. Junior Maya Benham, a 5-10 forward who is committed to Louisville, is averaging 16.2 points and 5.6 rebounds. Hughes had been ranked until losing last week to Westlake (13-4, 2-1), the third wheel in Region 3.
Saturday
Southwest DeKalb (15-2) at Norcross (14-3) – This matchup of the reigning state champions of AAAAAA (Norcross) and AAAAA (SWD) is the 2:30 p.m. game of the Girls Night Out showcase event at Brookwood. Norcross, still very good but naturally not the same without North Carolina freshman Diamond DeShields, is No. 8 in AAAAAA. Southwest DeKalb is No. 2 in AAAAA behind Tucker, the only Georgia team that has beaten SWD this season. These schools have won seven of the past 10 state titles in the highest two classifications.
Archer (16-1) at Shades Valley, Ala. (12-3) – This is the 7 p.m. game of the Girls Night Out showcase. Archer is ranked No. 2 in AAAAAA. Shades Valley is No. 8 in Class 6A, the highest class in Alabama. Shades Valley point guard Morgan William has signed with Mississippi State. Archer has one of Georgia's top point guards, Madison Newby.
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