Less than a month into the season, it’s already clear that several Northeast Georgia based regions could be the power brokers in girls basketball in the Georgia High School Association.
None may be more powerful than Region 7-3A. Four of the seven teams in the region -- Lumpkin County, Pickens, Wesleyan, White County -- are ranked in the top six in the latest Kyle Sandy poll released on Tuesday. Those four teams are a combined 30-3, with two of the losses against each other.
Region 8-A Division 1 has three teams -- Elbert County, Rabun County, Athens Christian -- ranked in the top eight and Region 8-A Division 2 has two teams -- Lake Oconee Academy and Towns County -- ranked in the top 10.
Overall, seven Northeast Georgia-area teams are ranked in the top 10 in their respective classifications in the Kyle Sandy poll this week.
Most figured 7-3A would be a beast for teams inside and outside the region this season, even after reclassification moved playoff teams North Hall and East Forsyth up to Class 4A. Lumpkin County is the defending state champion and Pickens made the Final 4 in Class 4A last season before being moved down. Wesleyan, a perennial playoff powerhouse, also moved up from the old Class A Private.
But none of those teams hold the highest ranking at the moment. White County moved up four spots to second behind No. 1 Hebron Christian after knocking off No. 3 Wesleyan last week. Lumpkin County sits fourth after dropping an overtime loss to Wesleyan last week. And none of those four teams leads Region 7-3A at the moment. Dawson County, under first-year head coach Will Anglin, leads the early standings. The Lady Tigers (5-2, 2-0 Region 7-3A) will put that unblemished record on the line tonight against Pickens (8-0, 1-0 Region 7-3A) at home.
Lady Warriors coach Jarvis Davenport said they welcome the recognition.
“It’s good that the girls are being recognized,” he said. “They have worked hard all summer and coming into the season. But the only ranking that matters is the last one.”
The No. 2 ranking is the highest for the Lady Warriors (9-1, 1-0 Region 7-3A) in Davenport’s seven seasons in Cleveland. They finished No. 1 in 1981 after winning the Class 2A state title, their only one in program history.
This season, White County’s only loss has come at the hands of No. 1 Hebron Christian, 56-35, in their season-opener last month. Since then, they have reeled off nine straight wins.
“It got away from us at the end but it was like an eight-point game in the second half,” Davenport said of that game against Hebron Christian. “I felt like we could be a pretty good team coming into the season. The girls are playing their roles. Our depth and just everyone doing their jobs out on the court have been the big keys so far.”
The Lady Warriors will take on West Hall on Tuesday in Region 7-3A action and then will have a string of non-region games before jumping back into region play following the New Year.
Davenport said the focus will just be doing what they’ve been doing so far.
“It’s cliche I know but we just talk about winning that next possession,” he said. “They’ve done a good job of doing that and they just need to keep doing that.”
But White County isn’t the only area girls team to get recognition in the latest Kyle Sandy poll.
Buford (6-0) is fourth in Class 7A and North Forsyth (4-3) is eighth in Class 6A while playing a tough non-region schedule.
Chestatee (5-2, 2-0 Region 8-4A) is ninth in Class 4A and is one of two Region 8-4A teams, along with No. 8 Walnut Grove, to be ranked. Those two teams meet tonight in Gainesville.
Banks County (8-3) is ranked seventh in Class 2A with two of their three losses coming to White County and Rabun County.
Rabun County (6-0) is ranked fifth in Class A Division 1. Towns County (3-4, 1-0 Region 8-A Division 2) is ranked 10th in Class A Division 2. They opened region play last week with a blowout win over Lincoln County.
