Thirteen region champions and three teams that had to win two postseason games on the road have advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Class 6A boys and girls basketball playoffs, to be held Tuesday and Wednesday at on-campus sites.
All eight of the boys regions champions made it through to the third round. They are Lee County (Region 1), Grovetown (Region 2), Jonesboro (Region 3), St. Pius (Region 4), Alexander (Region 5), Etowah (Region 6), Blessed Trinity (Region 7) and Lanier (Region 8).
Lee County is the only team of that group that entered the playoffs unranked, despite a record that now stands at 26-3. The Trojans advanced with victories over Evans (61-49) and Riverwood (70-63). They lost just one game in region play, 35-24 against Tift County, and suffered losses to lower-classification teams Monroe and Sumter County earlier in the year. Lee County is in the quarterfinals for the second time in three years. Its previous best finish was the 1985 Class 3A championship season.
Defending champion Grovetown, ranked No. 3, had won just one playoff game in its history before its title run last season. Now, the Warriors have seven consecutive playoff victories after defeating No. 8 Marist 58-51 Wednesday night. The Warriors are led by last year’s Class 6A player of the year Frankquon Sherman, 2023 Region 2 player of the year Derrion Reid and first-team all-region selection Malik Ferguson.
On the girls’ side, region champions Rockdale County, Hughes, Marist and River Ridge advanced on the right side of the bracket. The surprises came on the left half of the draw, where Brunswick was the only region champion to advance.
Defending champion Lovejoy wasn’t a surprise, but the Wildcats had to win two games on the road to reach the quarterfinals. They handled that easily, defeating Riverwood and Region 1 champion Veterans by an average of 27 points. Lovejoy finished tied for first place in Region 3 in the regular season but lost to Rockdale County in the region tournament semifinals and ended up as the No. 3 seed for state.
Lovejoy’s next test will come from Gainesville, the only No. 4 seed remaining in Class 6A and one of only two No. 4 seeds still alive in any girls classification (Butler of Class 2A is the other). The Red Elephants defeated Region 7 champion Sprayberry 70-66 and Region 6 runner-up Woodstock 63-61 to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2015.
The other No. 3 girls seed remaining is Sequoyah, which upset Region 8 champion and ninth-ranked North Forsyth 59-46 in the quarterfinals. Sequoyah was the state runner-up in 2022 but finished in third place in both the regular season and the region tournament this season. The Chiefs will face fifth-ranked Brunswick in the quarterfinals.
River Ridge entered the tournament ranked No. 1 for the second consecutive season and will try to avoid its second straight quarterfinal loss. Last year, the Knights were eliminated by eventual champion Lovejoy 71-59. This time, the Knights will face a Marist team that is unranked but is 26-2 and has won 24 consecutive games. River Ridge is 24-5 but undefeated against Georgia opponents.
The semifinals will be played Saturday at the University of West Georgia. The girls games are scheduled for 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., with the boys to play at 4 and 8.
*State tournament scores, matchups:
Girls
Second round
Gainesville 63, Woodstock 61
Lovejoy 72, Veterans 53
Sequoyah 59, North Forsyth 46
Brunswick 53, Woodward Academy 48
Rockdale County 65, Lee County 43
Hughes 51, Habersham Central 27
Marist 61, Tift County 37
River Ridge 65, Blessed Trinity 47
Quarterfinals
(R8 #4) Gainesville at (R3 #3) Lovejoy
(R6 #3) Sequoyah at (R2 #1) Brunswick
(R5 #1) Hughes at (R3 #1) Rockdale County
(R6 #1) River Ridge at (R4 #1) Marist
Boys
Second round
Blessed Trinity 69, River Ridge 59
Lee County 70, Riverwood 63
Lanier 67, South Paulding 55
Grovetown 58, Marist 51
Jonesboro 65, Brunswick 46
Alexander 66, Shiloh 57
St. Pius 62, Lakeside-Evans 57
Etowah 59, Pope 42
Quarterfinals
(R1 #1) Lee County at (R7 #1) Blessed Trinity
(R2 #1) Grovetown at (R8 #1) Lanier
(R5 #1) Alexander at (R3 #1) Jonesboro
(R6 #1) Etowah at (R4 #1) St. Pius
