Weekend schedule takes a hit from winter storm

ajc.com

Credit: Stan Awtrey

Credit: Stan Awtrey

Five ranked Class AAAAAA girls basketball teams and four top 10 boys teams opened the 2017 portion of their schedules on Tuesday, combining to win eight of the nine games.

Those games could be the highlight of the week for many of them, however, because the impending winter storm threatens to throw the weekend schedule into chaos.

First, here are the results for the top 10 teams that played on Tuesday.

Boys:

No. 3 South Paulding 70, New Manchester 68

No. 5 Heritage-Conyers 92, Alcovy 49

No. 7 Brunswick 75, Beach 58

Peachtree Ridge 54, No. 10 Dacula 53

Girls:

No. 1 Harrison 88, Sprayberry 11

No. 3 Winder-Barrow 53, Flowery Branch 45

No. 5 Sprayberry 70, Osborne 39

No. 8 Stephenson 46, Drew 39

No. 9 Lanier 71, Walnut Grove 28

That’s what is known. What’s less certain is how the storm will impact the rest of the schedule.

For many schools, games on Friday and Saturday will be rescheduled or cancelled. That’s the case for schools in Cobb County, Paulding County, Atlanta, Marietta and other systems, which have called off all after-school activities for the weekend. It’s also true for Lanier of Gwinnett County, which has rescheduled games against Habersham Central and Winder-Barrow for later in January.

In other cases, the start times for Friday’s games have been moved up. Gainesville’s doubleheader at Dacula will begin with the girls game at 5:30 p.m., 30 minutes earlier than the original tipoff time, and the boys game between the top-ranked Red Elephants and No. 10 Dacula will start at approximately 7.

Some schools chose to play their Friday games on Thursday. That’s what happened with Harrison and Sequoyah. The top-ranked Harrison girls beat the No. 5-ranked Chiefs 73-60 to take sole possession of first place in Region 6-AAAAAA. Audrey Jordan scored 23 points for Harrison, which played without leading scorer Sydne Wiggins, who sat out with an injury. Harrison also won the boys game, 85-73. Harrison’s game on Saturday against South Cobb has been postponed.

Here’s the original schedule for the weekend for the top 10 boys and girls teams, along with any updates that were known on Thursday. Games marked with an asterisk are region games that must be made up if they are postponed. Check with your school for more information about all activities for the weekend.

Boys:

No. 1 Gainesville: at *Dacula (Friday), vs. *Habersham Central (Saturday)

No. 2 Jonesboro: vs. *Forest Park (Saturday)

No. 3 South Paulding: at *Alexander  (Friday, postponed); at McIntosh (Saturday, postponed)

No. 4 Hughes: vs. *Mays (Friday, postponed); at *Northgate (Saturday, postponed)

No. 5 Heritage-Conyers: at *Grovetown (Friday); vs. Rockdale County (Saturday)

No. 6 South Cobb: vs. *Osborne (Friday, postponed)

No. 7 Brunswick: vs. *Glynn Academy (Friday)

No. 8 Alpharetta: Defeated *Northview 74-65 (originally scheduled for Thursday)

No. 9 Alexander: vs. *South Paulding (Friday, postponed); at *Tri-Cities (Saturday, postponed)

No. 10 Dacula: vs. *Gainesville (Friday); at *Apalachee (Saturday)

Girls:

No. 1 Harrison: Defeated *Sequoyah 73-60 (Thursday, moved from Friday); at *South Cobb (Saturday, postponed)

No. 2 Douglas County: Does not play

No. 3 Winder-Barrow: vs. *Apalachee (Friday); at *Lanier (Saturday, postponed)

No. 4 Northview: Defeated Alpharetta 42-41 (originally scheduled for Thursday); vs. *Dunwoody (Saturday, postponed)

No. 5 Sequoyah: Lost to *Harrison 73-60 (Thursday, moved from Friday); vs. *Allatoona (Saturday, postponed)

No. 6 Lovejoy: vs. *Stephenson (Friday, postponed); vs. North Clayton (Saturday)

No. 7 Grovetown: vs. *Heritage-Conyers (Friday)

No. 8 Stephenson: at *Lovejoy (Friday, postponed)

No. 9 Lanier: at *Habersham Central (Friday, postponed); vs. *Winder-Barrow (Saturday, postponed)

No. 10 Habersham Central: vs. *Lanier (Friday, postponed); vs. *Gainesville (Saturday)