Lady Generals bracing for top-ranked Carver-Columbus

It’s already been a historic season for the Heritage Lady Generals basketball program.

Their 24 victories are one win away from tying the 2016-2017 team for the most single-season wins in program history. They claimed their second Region 6-AAAA championship in four seasons and they not only earned their first-ever state playoff win over Chestatee, they followed up with their second-ever state playoff victory over Oconee County this past Thursday night to put them in the Class 4A Elite Eight.

But if the Navy-and-Red are going to keep the magic going and advance to the Final Four, they will have to find a way to claim a historic win.

Heritage (24-5), currently ranked No. 10 in its classification by Score Atlanta, has spent the first part of this week preparing for No. 1-ranked Carver-Columbus, the champions of Region 1, who will enter the game with an unblemished 29-0 record.

The Lady Tigers have been one of the top teams in Class 4A for the past three seasons, but have turned things up another big notch this season.

Head coach Anson Hundley’s squad, which features nine seniors on its roster, has rolled past virtually all of its opponents this season, including a 16-0 record in region play in which they won all 16 games by an average of 50 points.

Their 29 wins include five against teams outside of Georgia. Their closest game was a 48-46 victory over Bishop O’Connell (Arlington, Va.) in an outof-state holiday tournament in December. Every other win this season has been by no less than 11 points and their average margin of victory this season is 47.4.

Carver is led by senior guards Jayna Love-Hill and Malasia Howard, 5-foot11 sophomore guard/forward Kionna Gaines, 6-foot senior forward Jailyn Shaw and 6-3 junior forward/center Olivia Cochran. Cochran, a first team All-State selection by the AJC last season, is ranked No. 32 overall nationally by ESPN for the Class of 2020.

The Lady Tigers are 108-12 since the start of the 2015-2016 season, including a 24-5 mark in 2015-2016, a 26-5 record the following season and a 29-2 record last year. They lost in the second round to Winder Barrow in 2015-2016 and suffered a 68-67 loss to rival Columbus in the state championship game in 2016-2017. Last season, Carver fell to Spalding, 58-51, in the state semifinals.

The Lady Tigers opened the 20182019 state playoffs with easy wins over Druid Hills (76-35) and Cross Creek (76-36).

Although both teams are No. 1 seeds, Heritage’s side of the bracket won the GHSA’s universal coin flip for the quarterfinals and will host the game, which will be played this Wednesday at 6 p.m.

The winner will face No. 2-ranked and Region 4 champion Henry County or No. 3-ranked and Region 7 champion Flowery Branch in the state semifinals at Fort Valley State University on March 2 (6 p.m.).

Information from MaxPreps.com was used in this story.