Basketball: Battle of the States opens on Friday

HIAWASSEE, Ga. — The 30th running of the Battle of the States will get under way on Friday at Towns County High School.

The three-day event, which will run Friday, Saturday, and conclude with the finals on Monday, will feature northeast Georgia area programs Union County, Rabun County, and host Towns County. It also will have teams from Tennessee (Polk County) and North Carolina (Franklin, Hayesville, and Murphy) as well as Coosa from the northwest area of Georgia.

Action for 8 games (4 girls and 4 boys) will begin at 10 a.m. with the Polk vs. Franklin girls on Friday morning. The final game of the day will have the Towns County boys taking on Murphy. The winners will all move into Saturday’s semifinals. Saturday's semifinals are slated to begin at 4 p.m.

The Union County boys and Rabun County girls are the defending champions.

The boys tournament figures to be a high-quality event with Union County (4th in Class 2A), Rabun County (6th in Class A D1), and Towns County (9th in Class A D2) all ranked in the top 10 in the new Playoff System Rankings (PSR) installed by the Georgia High School Association.

The Union boys have opened the season strong with an 8-2 record while Rabun County (10-2) has won 5 straight and Towns County (7-6) has won 7 of its last 9 coming in.

The boys should be a competitive field with six of the teams -- Coosa (5-5), Franklin (5-2), Hayesville (2-4), Polk County (3-3), and Murphy (1-3), along with the three area teams -- are .500 or better.

The girls tournament should be wide-open. The Rabun County girls have been up and down so far this season, coming into the tournament with a 6-4 record. The Union County girls are 6-4 while Towns County is just 3-10. They are 1-5 vs. the field coming in.

For the girls, Coosa (5-5), Franklin (4-3), Hayesville (3-3), Polk County (3-4), and Murphy (2-4) should make for a very competitive field.