With Region 8-6A starting on Tuesday and Region 8-7A getting under way on Friday, Gainesville and Buford will hit the road as both begin their quests for a playoff berth.
Twenty of the 26 Northeast Georgia-area schools covered by AccessWDUN will be in action on Friday.
The Lady Wolves (11-0) are ranked fifth in Class 7A. Gainesville, also 11-0, is unranked but coming off a Lanierland championship run. The 11 wins for the Lady Red Elephants already has surpassed last year’s entire win total (8).
Buford travels to Mountain View to open its Region 8-7A schedule while Gainesville heads to Habersham Central in 8-6A action.
But while all four of those teams enter region play for the first time this season, Regions 8-5A, 8-4A, 7-3A, and 8-2A all have crucial games on tap tonight in both boys and girls action.
In Region 8-6A, North Forsyth hits the road against Jackson County.
Flowery Branch travels to Eastside and Jefferson plays host to Loganville in 8-5A in a pair of big 8-5A matchups.
Region 8-4A will have crossover action among the two subregions. Crossover games do not count toward subregion standings but could loom large at the end with possible tiebreaker scenarios.
Region 7-3A has just one meeting as West Hall travels to Wesleyan. Both boys teams are expecting to be right in the middle of the playoff race. The West Hall boys (6-8, 2-1 Region 7-3A) sit in second while the Wolves (8-4, 1-1 Region 7-3A) are a half-game back.
Banks County is off but East Jackson will play host to Providence Christian while Union County travels to Athens Academy in two big 8-2A showdowns.
One huge rivalry game could highlight the night's action as White County travels to North Hall in what should be two very competitive games at Lynn Cottrell gym.
(Check below for the full schedule of games on Friday.)
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
Friday, Jan. 6
Buford at Mountain View*
Cedar Shoals at East Forsyth*
Cherokee Bluff at North Oconee*
Chestatee at Seckinger*
Commerce at Lincoln County
Dawson County at Chattanooga Christian
Flowery Branch at Eastside*
Gainesville at Habersham Central*
Loganville at Jefferson*
Madison County at East Hall*
North Forsyth at Jackson County*
Providence Christian at East Jackson*
Rabun County at Stephens County
Union County at at Athens Academy*
West Hall at Wesleyan*
White County at North Hall
(* -- denotes region contest)
http://accesswdun.com/article/2023/1/1158523/basketball-friday-sked-1-6-23