Kell moves to No. 1 in AAAAA

GHSF Daily

Kell took advantage of the first loss of the season by three-time defending state champion Buford and moved to No. 1 in Class AAAAA in this week’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution girls basketball rankings.

Kell, ranked No. 2 last week, improved to 24-0 with victories against its three closest pursuers in Region 7-AAAAA — Villa Rica, Carrollton and Rome — by an average of 19 points.

Buford handily beat Region 8 rivals Johnson-Gainesville and Cedar Shoals last week to improve to 22-0 before losing to Class A Private No. 4 Wesleyan 45-43 Saturday night.

Buford fell to No. 2.

Kell is one of four remaining unbeaten teams in the state, but the only one ranked No. 1. The others are Collins Hill (230, No. 2 in Class AAAAAAA), Troup (19-0, No. 4 in AAAA) and Hebron Christian (24-0, No. 2 in Class A Private).

In Class AAAAAA, Lovejoy (20-3) held on to the No. 1 ranking despite losing two out of three games last week against out-of-state opponents. Lovejoy’s only loss to a Georgia team was against Class AAAAAAA No. 1 Westlake 55-52 Dec. 14.

It was a tumultuous week in Class AAAAAAA, where four ranked teams lost a combined six games and three of those teams fell out of the top 10. New to the rankings in the highest class this week are No. 7 Colquitt County, No. 9 Pebblebrook and No. 10 Grayson. They replaced West Forsyth, Rockdale County and North Cobb.

Five teams moved into the top 10 in other classifications. Carrollton replaced Arabia Mountain in Class AAAAA; Westminster replaced Dawson County in AAA; Vidalia replaced Union County in AA; Trinity Christian replaced Stratford Academy in A Private, and Georgia Military replaced Lake Oconee Academy in A Public.