Battle for state tourney positioning begins Friday; region tourney schedule

By Jeff Hart and Morgan Lee

Posted 4:13PM on Friday, February 13, 2015

GAINESVILLE -- With region tournaments in full swing now, peaking at the right time of year is almost as important as how much talent you have. No teams right now are peaking as high as the Johnson boys in Region 8-AAAA and the Dawson County girls in 7-AAA, who both head into Friday's region semifinals unbeaten and heavy favorites to win region titles. The Knights (25-0) shook off a slow start on Tuesday in the opening round to beat Stephens County, 71-50, to advance to the Class AAAA state playoffs. The Lady Tigers (25-0) received a bye into the semifinals and an automatic berth in the Class AAA state playoffs by winning the regular season title. (NOTE: For a complete look at tournament scores and schedules for Regions 8-AAAAA, 8-AAAA, 7-AAA, 8-AA and 8-A, scroll down to the bottom.) Overall, nearly two dozen northeast Georgia teams (23 to be exact) qualified for the state playoffs Tuesday and Wednesday in their respective region tournaments. Now, they will all see if they have what it takes to win their region titles and try and position themselves for a deep run in the state playoffs. Knights' coach Jeff Steele said playing for a home game in the first round of the state playoffs is big for everyone. Johnson takes on North Hall on Friday at the Johnson gym at 8:30 p.m. "To me that's always huge," Steele said. "For us, our guys love playing at home and we always have a great crowd atmosphere. It makes a difference. "But, right now, all we're focusing on is North Hall. They scare me because they can really shoot and they're playing well right now. It won't be easy." Johnson has been relying on the best 1-2 punch in north Georgia in seniors Ty Cockfield and Roderick English. Steele said he will need strong outings from both from here-on-out. "We need them to be at their best and I think they'll be up for the challenge," Steele said. "The key for us is getting one or two other guys involved. When we do that we're hard to beat." The Lady Tigers will face Franklin County, a team they beat by an average of 30.5 points in two wins in the regular season, at 7 p.m. in Carnesville, the site of the Region 7-AAA semifinals and finals. "I'm sure they'll be ready for us," Sweat said. "I'm sure they'll throw everything they have at us. It's important to get that No. 1 seed to get a better draw in the state." Sweat, however, also has an experienced group that knows what it takes. Nearly half the roster was part of the Lady Tigers' run to the Class AAA state title game two years ago. Key players in seniors Sheyenne Seabolt and Ashley Parker and juniors Karlie Bearden and Haley Burgess were all part of that team and saw action in the playoffs. "That's a big plus for anyone," Sweat said. "Our girls won't see anything they haven't already experienced and they can relay those to the younger girls. Hopefully that will help us." But they also haven't played in a week and having a big undefeated target on their back could create stress. Right? "Yes and no on the time off," Sweat said. "It's always good to get rested but you never want to interrupt the momentum you've built. You never know how it's going to work out. "We know everyone is gunning for us. But I think our girls see that as a challenge. We don't have too much pressure in these next two games so hopefully we can get back to how we were playing at the end of the season and build some more momentum for the playoffs." Gainesville boys coach Benjie Wood, whose Red Elephants captured the top seed from Region 8A-AAAAA during the regular season, is facing different problems. The Red Elephants will be without three starters the rest of the way just at the time when they need them most. They survived a huge scare in the first round of the Region 8-AAAAA Tournament on Wednesday beating Salem 58-57 and watched as the Seminoles missed a game-winning shot at the buzzer. "We survived and advanced," Wood said. "We're going through a lot right now but you have to just keep moving forward. We're going to have to rely on our freshmen a little more. They are talented but they're still freshmen and do not have the kind of experience to draw from yet. It will be interesting the rest of the way." Gainesville (23-2) will take on Cedar Shoals, a team they beat by 26 earlier in the season, in the semifinals at Salem. Junior Mississippi State-commit and leading scorer D'Marcus Simonds may be called on to pull some extra weight. "Right now we're just trying to regroup ourselves and find the right combinations," Wood said. "I expect another tough game for us. We may have to rely on D'Marcus a little more than usual but it's playoff time and you do what you have to to get a win." The East Hall boys received a bye and an automatic berth in the Class AAA state playoffs by winning Region 7-AAA during the regular season. Vikings coach Joe Dix said they took advantage of the extra time off. East Hall faces Franklin County, a team the Vikings beat by 35 in Carnesville earlier, in the semifinals on the Lions' home court. The two teams closed out the regular season last Friday with a 90-74 East Hall win in Valhalla. "We haven't played in a week and we gave some guys some time off to rest and recover a little bit," Dix said. "I don't think it will hurt our momentum but you never know. Beating a team three times in one season is always tough and they are much, much better than when we played them up there. Also, they were our last game and I never like playing a team twice in a row." Tristan Cooper and Tylor Brown have been coming on off late to give Vikings standout Kyvon Davenport some help. But defense is always the key for the Vikings. "Offensively we're probably playing as well as we have all year, Dix said. "We need to be better and sharper on defense if we plan to do anything in the playoffs." A complete breakdown of the early rounds of the region tournaments around the area are below as is a complete schedule of the semifinal rounds in all the area regions. The Flowery Branch will be back in the state playoffs after missing out last year for the first time in five years. The Lady Falcons, who were the top seed from Region 8A-AAAAA, held off Cedar Shoals 58-50 in the opening round of the 8-AAAAA Tournament on Tuesday and will face host Salem on Friday at 4 p.m. on the Lady Seminoles' home floor in the semifinals. "It's going to be a tough game for us for sure, especially with having to play them at their place," Flowery Branch coach Hazel Hall said. "But I think the pressure is off a little bit for us after the first game." The Lady Falcons (21-3) feature no seniors and had some growing pains last year. Hall said that has helped paved the way for one of their best regular season's ever. "Last year they were so young and just had a hard time finishing games," Hall said. "They've grown up a lot this year and they really don't get too low or too high no matter what happens." Hall said any of the four teams left -- Gainesville takes on Loganville in the other semifinal -- can win it so bringing your "A" game will be required. "It's wide-open," she said. "If you don't show up ready to play you'll lose. There are no clear-cut favorites now." Juniors Breanna Locke and Maddie Hetzel, sophomore Julianne Sutton, and freshmen Lexie Sengkhammee and Taniyah Worth give the Lady Falcons a balanced attack inside-and-out and a quick defense. "We're a very talented team and I think we have the talent to win (the region) and have a chance to do some good things in the playoffs," Hall said. "But it's all about matchups in the playoffs. We'll just have to see how the bracket comes out once (the region tournaments) are over." REGION 8-AAAAA Results BOYS Play-ins: Lanier 51, Winder-Barrow 37 Salem 64, Loganville 55 Quarterfinals: Gainesville 58, Salem 57 Apalachee 80, Clarke Central 80 Heritage 55, Lanier 46 Cedar Shoals 40, Flowery Branch 37 GIRLS Play-ins: Apalachee 48, Lanier 43 Cedar Shoals 56, Heritage 21 Quarterfinals: Flowery Branch 58, Cedar Shoals 50 Gainesville 44, Clarke Central 43 Loganville, 60, Apalachee 32 Salem 39, Winder-Barrow 28 Remaining Schedule Friday semifinals at Salem High, Conyers 4 p.m. -- Flowery Branch girls vs. Salem 5:30 p.m. -- Gainesville boys vs. Cedar Shoals 7 p.m. -- Gainesville girls vs. Loganville 8:30 p.m. -- Apalachee boys vs. Heritage REGION 8-AAAA Results BOYS Play-in: Stephens County 73, North Oconee 51 Quarterfinals: Monroe Area 68, White County 63 Buford 54, Chestatee 33 North Hall 63, Madison County 53 Johnson 71, Stephens County 50 GIRLS Play-in: Monroe Area 48, Johnson 35 Quarterfinals: Chestatee 20, White County 19 North Hall 79, North Oconee 46 Madison County 47, Stephens County 43 Buford 85, Monroe Area 27 Remaining Schedule Friday semifinals at Johnson High, Oakwood 4 p.m. -- Chestatee girls vs. North Hall 5:30 p.m. -- Buford boys vs. Monroe Area 7 p.m. -- Buford girls vs. Madison County 8:30 p.m. -- Johnson boys vs. North Hall REGION 7-AAA Results BOYS Quarterfinals: Franklin County 63, Dawson County 57 Lumpkin County 49, Fannin County 48 Banks County 58, West Hall 41 GIRLS Quarterfinals: Franklin County 41, West Hall 38 East Hall 76, Fannin County 43 Banks County 59, Lumpkin County 38 Remaining Schedule Friday semifinals at Franklin County High, Carnesville 4 p.m. -- Banks County girls vs. East Hall 5:30 p.m. -- Banks County boys vs. Lumpkin County 7 p.m. -- Dawson County girls vs. Franklin County 8:30 p.m. -- East Hall boys vs. Franklin County REGION 8-AA Results BOYS Quarterfinals: Washington-Wilkes 72, Social Circle 68 Union County 79, Oglethorpe County 58 Rabun County 76, Riverside Military Academy 60 GIRLS Quarterfinals: Greene County, Washington Wilkes Oglethorpe County 49, Social Circle 30 Remaining Schedule Friday semifinals at Greene County High, Greensboro 4 p.m. -- Union County girls vs. Oglethorpe County 5:30 p.m. -- Rabun County boys vs. Union County 7 p.m. -- Rabun County girls vs. TBD 8:30 p.m. -- Greene County boys vs. Washington-Wilkes REGION 8-A Results BOYS Play-ins: Prince Avenue Christian School 48, Tallulah Falls School 33 OT George Walton Academy 67, Commerce 66 Quarterfinals: Hebron Christian 62, Prince Avenue School 42 Providence Christian 71, Towns County 46 Lakeview Academy 60, Athens Academy 58 Athens Christian 88, George Walton Academy 47 GIRLS Play-ins: Tallulah Falls School 42, Athens Academy 39 Hebron Christian 55, Providence Christian 42 OT Quarterfinals: Lakeview Academy 64, Tallulah Falls School 38 George Walton Academy 48, Towns County 35 Commerce 52, Prince Avenue Christian School 50 OT Athens Christian 44, Hebron Christian 27 Remaining Schedule Friday semifinals at Prince Avenue Christian School, Bogart 4 p.m. -- Lakeview Academy girls vs. George Walton 5:30 p.m. -- Hebron Christian boys vs. Providence Christian 7 p.m. -- Commerce girls vs. Athens Christian 8:30 p.m. -- Lakeview Academy boys vs. Athens Christian