The Lake Oconee Academy girls basketball team, ranked No. 1 in Class A Division II for much of the season until a loss to Towns County on Jan. 21, has returned to the top spot in the classification heading into the final week of play before the state playoffs begin.
Lake Oconee (22-2), the 2022 Class A Public champion, moved up one place after previous No. 1 Turner County lost to Clinch County 56-55 in a Region 2-A Division II game. The Titans will begin play in the Region 8-A Division tournament Thursday with a semifinal game against either Greene County or Washington-Wilkes.
Turner County fell to No. 4 in the rankings, one spot ahead of Clinch County, which earned a regular-season split against Turner with the victory. Turner and Clinch are likely to meet again this week in the region tournament. No. 2 Taylor County and No. 3 Montgomery County each moved up one spot from last week.
The other No. 1 teams remained the same this week. They are Brookwood in Class 7A, River Ridge in 6A, Kell in 5A, Holy Innocents’ in 4A, Hebron Christian in 3A, Mount Paran Christian in 2A and St. Francis in Class A Division I. Hebron Christian defeated Franklin County and Stephens County last week by an average score of 92-27 to complete a 25-0 season, the state’s only unbeaten mark.
Although many of the state’s 64 regions began their tournaments last week, only one (Region 2 in Class 5A) reached its conclusion. Second-ranked Warner Robins defeated then-No. 3 Union Grove 56-49 in the championship game, and Eagle’s Landing beat Jones County 39-37 in the consolation game. The other region tournaments will end this week. The top four teams from each region tournament advance to the state playoffs.
Six of the eight No. 1-ranked teams – and 67 of the 80 ranked teams – have already secured state tournament berths, either by winning their way into the region tournament semifinals or receiving byes into the semis. Holy Innocents’ needs a victory over Stone Mountain on Wednesday and St. Francis needs a victory against Whitefield Academy on Tuesday to clinch trips to the state playoffs.
The lighter-than-usual schedule last week produced fewer changes to the top 10s. Only two new teams made their way into the rankings – Hart County replaced Calvary Day in Class 3A, and Swainsboro replaced Bryan County in Class A Division I.
Class 7A
1. Brookwood (24-1)
2. Norcross (23-2)
3. Buford (22-3)
4. South Forsyth (22-3)
5. North Paulding (23-2)
6. Archer (17-5)
7. Grayson (18-7)
8. Hillgrove (19-6)
9. Peachtree Ridge (19-5)
10. Cherokee (20-5)
Class 6A
1. River Ridge (20-5)
2. Lovejoy (21-4)
3. Woodward Academy (20-6)
4. Forest Park (19-5)
5. Brunswick (22-3)
6. Hughes (20-4)
7. Rockdale County (19-7)
8. Tift County (20-4)
9. Veterans (21-4)
10. North Forsyth (19-6)
Class 5A
1. Kell (19-5)
2. Warner Robins (24-3)
3. Jackson-Atlanta (21-1)
4. Bradwell Institute (20-3)
5. Union Grove (21-7)
6. Arabia Mountain (23-1)
7. Calhoun (20-4)
8. Hiram (20-4)
9. Greenbrier (18-7)
10. Statesboro (18-7)
Class 4A
1. Holy Innocents’ (19-4)
2. Luella (18-6)
3. Baldwin (18-7)
4. Griffin (20-4)
5. Westminster (19-6)
6. Hardaway (19-4)
7. Walnut Grove (19-5)
8. Westover (17-6)
9. North Hall (19-6)
10. Stockbridge (18-7)
Class 3A
1. Hebron Christian (25-0)
2. Lumpkin County (21-3)
3. Wesleyan (21-3)
4. Cross Creek (20-4)
5. Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe (23-1)
6. Carver-Columbus (16-9)
7. White County (18-7)
8. Pickens (19-6)
9. Hart County (18-7)
10. Monroe (19-6)
Class 2A
1. Mount Paran Christian (24-1)
2. Central-Macon (24-1)
3. Banks County (22-3)
4. Josey (21-3)
5. Landmark Christian (17-8)
6. Murray County (18-4)
7. Columbia (18-6)
8. Thomson (18-5)
9. Dodge County (22-2)
10. Fannin County (18-7)
Class A Division I
1. St. Francis (19-6)
2. Galloway (21-4)
3. Elbert County (21-4)
4. Rabun County (22-2)
5. Woodville-Tompkins (20-5)
6. Lamar County (21-4)
7. Bacon County (18-1)
8. Mount Pisgah Christian (14-5)
9. Darlington (21-5)
10. Swainsboro (14-6)
Class A Division II
1. Lake Oconee Academy (22-2)
2. Taylor County (22-1)
3. Montgomery County (24-1)
4. Turner County (21-3)
5. Clinch County (21-3)
6. Mt. Zion-Carroll (21-5)
7. Towns County (18-7)
8. Manchester (15-7)
9. Schley County (17-5)
10. Jenkins County (18-6)
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