If the No. 1 and 2 teams in the state meet in the playoffs at any point earlier than the championship, many would consider it a matchup played too soon. That’s what’s happening in 1A Private though, when top-ranked Greenforest Christian hosts No. 2 Galloway Wednesday in the quarterfinals.
Both the Eagles (25-4) and Scots (20-7) are No. 1 seeds, but the game will be played at Greenforest due to the GHSA’s universal coin toss awarding the bottom-half of the bracket home-court advantage in cases where like-seeded teams meet.
The Eagles haven’t lost since 7A’s No. 4 Newton beat them 85-62 on Dec. 7. Their win streak is at 21. They’ve won their first two playoff games by similar scores topping Brookstone 87-34 and Tallulah Falls 80-34. The Scots closed the season with seven consecutive region wins, including 74-64 over No. 7 Providence Christian in the Region 5 championship. In the playoffs, the Scots barely got past unranked Walker, winning 59-57, then beat Deerfield-Windsor 80-57 in Round 2.
No. 3 King’s Ridge (26-4), No. 5 North Cobb Christian (21-6) and No. 10 First Presbyterian (21-3) are the other ranked teams still alive, though none play each other next round. There are three unranked teams in the quarterfinals — Calvary Day (17-6), Heritage-Newnan (22-7) and St. Francis (19-9).
On the girls’ side, No. 1 Holy Innocents’ (26-2) has looked the part thus far, beating Walker and Calvary Day a combined 168-52. They’ll host Landmark Christian (21-8), a No. 2 seed that was the beneficiary of a first-round forfeit by St. Anne-Pacelli, then beat Lakeview 82-47.
Perhaps the most intriguing quarterfinals matchup is No. 4 Hebron Christian (24-5) at No. 3 St. Francis (25-3) on Wednesday in Alpharetta. Two coaching greats will go against each other in Hebron’s Jan Azar and St. Francis’ Aisha Kennedy. Azar has 14 state titles, and Kennedy has three and her Knights have reached the semifinals the last nine seasons.
There’s another top 10 matchup in the quarterfinals with No. 7 Trinity Christian (24-5) hosting No. 2 Mount Paran (22-4). Both are No. 1 seeds. Mount Paran is led by senior Kara Dunn, a Georgia Tech signee averaging 22 points.
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