Lake Oconee Academy returns to No. 1

The Lake Oconee Academy girls basketball team, ranked No. 1 in Class A Division II for much of the season until a loss to Towns County on Jan. 21, has returned to the top spot in the classification heading into the final week of play before the state playoffs.

Lake Oconee (22-2), the 2022 Class A Public champion, moved up one place after previous No. 1 Turner County lost to Clinch County 56-55 in a Region 2-A Division II game. The Titans will begin play in the Region 8-A Division tournament Thursday with a semifinal game against either Greene County or Washington-wilkes.

Turner County fell to No. 4, one spot ahead of Clinch County, which earned a regular-season split against Turner with the victory. Turner and Clinch are likely to meet again this week in the region tournament. No. 2 Taylor County and No. 3 Montgomery County each moved up one spot.

The other No. 1 teams remained the same this week: Brookwood in Class 7A, River Ridge in 6A, Kell in 5A, Holy Innocents’ in 4A, Hebron Christian in 3A, Mount Paran Christian in 2A and St. Francis in Class A Division I. Hebron Christian defeated Franklin County and Stephens County last week by an average score of 92-27 to complete a 25-0 season, the state’s only unbeaten mark.

Although many of the state’s 64 regions began their tournaments last week, only one (Region 2 in Class 5A) reached its conclusion. Second-ranked Warner Robins defeated then-no. 3 Union Grove 56-49 in the championship game, and Eagle’s Landing beat Jones County 39-37 in the consolation game. The other region tournaments will end this week. The top four teams from each region tournament advance to the state playoffs.

Six of the eight No. 1-ranked teams — and 67 of the 80 ranked teams — already have secured state tournament berths, either by winning their way into the region tournament semifinals or receiving byes into the semis. Holy Innocents’ needs a victory over Stone Mountain on Wednesday and St. Francis needs a victory against Whitefield Academy today to clinch trips to the state playoffs.

The lighter-than-usual schedule last week produced fewer changes to the top 10s. Only two new teams made their way into the rankings — Hart County replaced Calvary Day in Class 3A, and Swainsboro replaced Bryan County in Class A Division I.