The Holy Innocents’ girls basketball team, which has won three state championships in the past seven seasons, is in prime position to make another title run this year, sitting at No. 1 in Class 4A with two weeks remaining in the regular season.
The Golden Bears improved to 15-4 with victories over Stephenson and Stone Mountain last week and moved up one spot in the rankings after previous No. 1 Griffin lost to Baldwin 62-45. Luella climbed two spots to No. 2, followed by Baldwin and Griffin. Westminster, which plays with Holy Innocents’ in Region 6-4A and split the teams’ two regular-season meetings, is No. 5.
Holy Innocents’ won state championships in 1999, 2016, 2019 and 2020.
Brookwood (20-1) held on to the No. 1 spot in Class 7A with victories over Parkview (63-36) and Grayson (46-38). Archer, which was ranked No. 2 until losing to Brookwood 70-49 on Jan. 20 and falling one spot, is back at No. 2 after Buford lost to Wesleyan 72-58 on Saturday. Brookwood and Archer will play the rematch on Feb. 7 at Archer and are likely to meet again in the Region 4-7A tournament.
Buford fell to No. 4 with its loss, and Norcross moved up to No. 3.
The other six No. 1-ranked teams remained the same. They are River Ridge in Class 6A, Kell in 5A, Hebron Christian in 3A, Mount Paran Christian in 2A, St. Francis in A Division I, and Turner County in A Division II. Hebron Christian is the state’s only remaining unbeaten team.
The 80 teams in the previous rankings lost a total of 22 games last week, but 16 of those losses came against ranked teams or higher-classification opponents, so there was not much movement in the new rankings. Only four teams moved into the top 10s. North Forsyth replaced New Manchester in Class 6A; Statesboro replaced Ware County in 5A; Bryan County replaced Darlington in A Division I; and Manchester replaced Macon County in A Division II.
Class 7A
1. Brookwood (20-1)
2. Archer (15-3)
3. Norcross (20-2)
4. Buford (19-2)
5. Peachtree Ridge (17-4)
6. Campbell (19-3)
7. South Forsyth (19-3)
8. Hillgrove (17-5)
9. North Paulding (19-2)
10. McEachern (13-7)
Class 6A
1. River Ridge (17-5)
2. Lovejoy (19-4)
3. Woodward Academy (18-5)
4. Forest Park (16-5)
5. Brunswick (18-3)
6. Hughes (17-4)
7. Rockdale County (15-7)
8. Veterans (19-3)
9. Tift County (15-4)
10. North Forsyth (16-6)
Class 5A
1. Kell (16-5)
2. Warner Robins (19-3)
3. Union Grove (17-6)
4. Jackson-Atlanta (17-1)
5. Bradwell Institute (18-3)
6. Arabia Mountain (21-1)
7. Calhoun (17-3)
8. Statesboro (17-5)
9. Hiram (16-4)
10. Jones County (17-6)
Class 4A
1. Holy Innocents’ (15-4)
2. Luella (15-6)
3. Baldwin (14-7)
4. Griffin (17-4)
5. Westminster (14-6)
6. Hardaway (16-4)
7. Westover (14-5)
8. North Hall (17-5)
9. Stockbridge (14-7)
10. Walnut Grove (16-5)
Class 3A
1. Hebron Christian (21-0)
2. Lumpkin County (18-3)
3. Wesleyan (17-3)
4. White County (16-5)
5. Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe (20-1)
6. Cross Creek (17-4)
7. Carver-Columbus (12-9)
8. Monroe (16-5)
9. Calvary Day (16-5)
10. Pickens (17-4)
Class 2A
1. Mount Paran Christian (21-1)
2. Central-Macon (20-1)
3. Banks County (20-3)
4. Thomson (15-4)
5. Josey (17-3)
6. Dodge County (17-1)
7. Landmark Christian (13-7)
8. Columbia (15-6)
9. Butler (16-4)
10. Murray County (15-4)
Class A Division I
1. St. Francis (17-5)
2. Galloway (20-4)
3. Rabun County (20-1)
4. Elbert County (18-4)
5. Woodville-Tompkins (17-5)
6. Lamar County (17-4)
7. Mount Pisgah Christian (13-4)
8. Bacon County (14-1)
9. Trion (17-2)
10. Bryan County (17-4)
Class A Division II
1. Turner County (17-2)
2. Lake Oconee County (18-2)
3. Taylor County (19-1)
4. Montgomery County (20-1)
5. Clinch County (16-2)
6. Schley County (16-2)
7. Towns County (15-6)
8. Mt. Zion-Carroll (18-5)
9. Jenkins County (16-4)
10. Manchester (13-7)
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