Archive for January, 2013

Below are computer rankings of Georgia’s more than 400 girls high school basketball teams.

The ratings are compiled by Loren Maxwell, who provide the Maxwell Ratings each week during football season. This is his first release of girls basketball rankings. The boys rankings were published earlier this week.

Rating can be used to estimate the strength of one team over another. For example, on a neutral floor, North Gwinnett would be about a 4-point favorite over Norcross.

SOS = strength of schedule.

Top 10 All-Classification:

North Gwinnett (20-1) SOS:  76.13 Rating:  100.92

Norcross (18-4) SOS:  78.92 Rating:  96.9

Wesleyan (19-4) SOS:  78.31 Rating:  94.32

Parkview (22-0) SOS:  59.74 Rating:  93.44

SW Atlanta Christian (20-2) SOS:  60.03 Rating:  89.83

Buford (16-4) SOS:  65.72 Rating:  88.16

Stephenson (18-3) SOS:  67.72 Rating:  87.43

Alpharetta (18-4) SOS:  72.18 Rating:  86.77

Miller Grove (18-4) SOS:  65.15 Rating:  85.53

Tucker (18-3) SOS:  …

Continue reading North Gwinnett girls #1 in statewide computer poll »

Vidalia boys basketball players have come close to winning state, but haven’t taken home that grand prize.

Recently, there’ve been the runner-up seasons of 2012 and 1982, and the quarterfinal year of ‘92.

Increasingly, though, it seems this season might bring more.

The Indians (21-1) have caught attention by leading Region 2-AA Division A at 4-0. They’re ranked No. 3, which no doubt has them on everyone’s radar.

A win Friday at Jeff Davis will be their 12th straight since a lone loss to Dodge County, and importantly, ideal propulsion entering the following week’s region tournament for four state playoff berths. After the game against Jeff Davis come subregion ones with Bacon County and Toombs County to conclude the regular season.

A win over Jeff Davis would be Vidalia’s sixth consecutive and further cement it as a favorite in the region tournament. The Indians beat the Yellow Jackets 76-52 on Jan. 4, the second of Vidalia’s 11 straight wins.

The Indians come into the Jeff …

Continue reading This could be the Vidalia boys’ year »

The Jonesboro boys haven’t put up eye-popping numbers. The Cardinals, who are 18-4 overall, have exceeded 70 points in just four of their 22 games, and just one Jonesboro player, Patrick Petty, averages in double-figure scoring.

Two of the Cardinals’ losses were in overtime and the other two were by a combined 12 points.

What they do well is play defense, spread the wealth of points and share the spotlight.

They’ve held 13 opponents to less than 50 points and only three foes have managed 70, thanks in part to post player Chkedubem Okeke, who averages 3.3 blocks and 6.8 rebounds per game.

Petty has a season high of 26 points (that was against Upson-Lee) and he has scored 20 points two other times, which may not seem like much, but with Jonesboro’s measured tempo, one player with 20 can be a big advantage.

Two other Cardinals have topped 20, and another pair of players on the team appears capable of a 20-point night.

Deantre Mack, who averages 7 points per game, has scored 20 …

Continue reading Class AAAA: Jonesboro boys share points, spotlight »

Compiled by Score Atlanta

Allatoona 73, Woodland-Bartow 44

Alpharetta 54, Lambert 46

Bleckley County 66, Taylor County 59

Buford 68, White County 39

Carrollton 56, Troup 45

Cartersville 85, Coahulla Creek 26

Cass 45, Cedartown 39

Centennial 64, South Forsyth 46

Central-Carroll 52, Rockmart 47

Chattahoochee 69, North Forsyth 47

Cherokee 64, Roswell 55

Chestatee 87, Stephens County 81

Claxton 60, Calvary Day 59

Collins Hill 49, Mill Creek 44

Dawson County 44, Banks County 30

Dodge County 51, Jefferson County 45

Dooly County 71, Schley County 52

Douglas County 79, Newnan 73

Drew 66, Ola 35

Druid Hills 61, Morrow 48

Eagle’s Landing 109, Dutchtown 90

Evans 58, Grovetown 45

Excel Christian 61, Gordon Lee 51

Fayette County 62, Columbus 43

Gilmer 48, River Ridge 46

Greater Atlanta Christian 62, Wesleyan 22

Hillgrove 71, Pebblebrook 59

Johnson-Gainesville 79, Monroe Area 54

Kendrick 92, Jordan 88

Landmark Christian 85, Atlanta International 20

Lassiter 40, Milton 36

Lowndes 49, …

Continue reading Tuesday boys basketball scores »

Compiled by Score Atlanta

Alpharetta 74, Lambert 58

Beach 59, Johnson-Savannah 43

Bleckley County 62, Taylor County 47

Brookwood 44, South Gwinnett 26

Buford 38, White County 27

Calvary Day 49, Claxton 42

Central-Talbotton 49, Pacelli 34

Columbia 72, Lithonia 26

Colquitt County 58, Lowndes 54

Dodge County 71, Jefferson County 36

Douglass 104, Coretta Scott 32

Evans 55, Grovetown 43

Flowery Branch 55, Clarke Central 42

Glenn Hills 62, Burke County 46

Gordon Lee 72, Excel Christian 24

Greenville 62, Brookstone 49

Hardaway 68, Harris County 53

Hillgrove 66, Pebblebrook 47

Holy Innocents’ 70, Mt. Vernon 39

Jackson County 52, Morgan County 50

Jonesboro 64, North Clayton 33

Kendrick 88, Jordan 24

Lakeside-Evans 50, Greenbrier 42

Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe 38, Gordon Central 35

Lassiter 32, Milton 23

Luella 51, Newton 49

Marietta 26, Harrison 23

Marist 62, Stone Mountain 30

Mary Persons 61, Howard 45

Mill Creek 62, Collins Hill 33

Miller Grove 49, Southwest DeKalb 35

Norcross 74, …

Continue reading Tuesday girls basketball scores »

You know we love high school basketball here at The List HQ. But come on, nothing’s perfect.

Even with the things we love the most, we can nitpick and find some things we’d tinker with if we were suddenly elected to be King of All Things.

You may say that’s unlikely, and it would certainly be a poor decision by the people who elected us, but we all know voters have made bad decisions before.

So, in the interest of fantasy, we’re going to look at the top 10 changes we’d make to Georgia high school basketball if given that sort of golden opportunity.

10. Move fans back from baseline

Yeah, we love sitting there with the players just inches away too, but it sometimes becomes a little silly when players have to basically sit in a fan’s lap just to throw an inbounds pass. We’d set a standard that the first row has to be at least 6 feet back from the baseline, or face our wrath.

9. Straight to the NBA

OK, this isn’t exactly a problem with high school basketball per …

Continue reading Jeff Haws’ Top 10 List »

By S. Thomas Coleman
For the AJC

After another sluggish start to a game, Jonesboro head coach Daniel Maehlman let his team know that he was not pleased with a simple, if not R-rated two-word phrase: “This [rhymes with pucks].”

Instead of feeding their 6-foot-9 center Chukedubem Okeke on the low block or using the speed and athleticism of guards Patrick Petty and Cameron Sutton to slash to the basket, the Cardinals offense of choice in the early going at North Clayton was to settle for deep jumpers from the perimeter. The result was a 17-9 deficit at the end of the first quarter.

But Jonesboro (18-4, 12-1 in Region 4AAAA-Division B), ranked No. 6, came out firing on all cylinders in the second period and held off the pesky Eagles, 62-51, at North Clayton. The Cardinals had beaten North Clayton (11-11, 8-5) by 20 when the teams met two weeks ago.

“These guys are always going to play hard defensively,” said Maehlman. “But why we don’t come out aggressively attacking …

Continue reading Boys Basketball: Jonesboro 62, North Clayton 51 »

A little size disadvantage didn’t slow North Gwinnett on Tuesday.

The No. 6-ranked Bulldogs were relentless in attacking the boards. They followed their own shots. They attacked the glass whenever No. 4-ranked Peachtree Ridge shot. They wound up getting the same number of rebounds, 31, as their taller opponents and came away with a 54-49 home win over the Region 7-AAAAAA leaders.

North Gwinnett coach Zach Smith called it “gang rebounding.” Owen Lewis (nine), Ahmad Caver (six), Eric Hamilton (five) and Malik Carter (five) all had at least five rebounds.

“We have to fight hard on the glass when we play a team like this,” Smith said. “We came with the mentality that we’re going to fight and play hard and we did just that.”

North Gwinnett appeared to be on the verge of losing its second straight. The Bulldogs fell behind by six points early in the final quarter, before surging ahead on three consecutive 3-pointers – two by Howard and one by Caver.

“Coach says …

Continue reading Boys basketball: North Gwinnett 54, Peachtree Ridge 49 »

By Robert Haddocks

After a nip-and-tuck half between two  rivals, Wesleyan found itself trailing after a quick 3-pointer by Greater Atlanta Christian. The lead would be short lived.

Wesleyan turned to its decided height advantage. Keevana Edwards and Paige Mosley converted offensive rebounds. Mosley followed that with bucket in the lane. Lauren Frerking scored inside the paint and Cairo Booker hit a layup after a steal. The 10-0 run gave Wesleyan a 36-28 lead and the Lady Wolves never trailed again en route to a 60-49 win. It was the 400th win for coach Jan Azar, whose team improves to 19-4, 6-0 in Region 6-AA.

The Lady Wolves’ press forced several turnovers in the second half and they took advantage of their size. “We did a good job on the boards,” Azar said. “(GAC) was playing tough in the first half, but we started utilizing our size, getting on the boards and taking the ball to the basket.”

Frerking led the Wolves with 15 points and Booker and Brittany Stevens …

Continue reading Wesleyan 60 GAC 49 Girls Basketball »

Villanova signee Jordan Dillard went for 21 points for Decatur Tuesday, but No. 3 St. Pius X beat the No. 9 Bulldogs 55-41 in an important Region 6-AAA girls game as college prospects Asia Durr and Jasmine Carter combined for 33 points for SPX.

With assistant coaches from Maryland, Memphis and Michigan State in attendance, SPX guard/forward Durr – considered by ESPN.com to be the No. 1 sophomore prospect in the nation – scored 19 points. Carter, a junior, added 14.

The Lions (19-3, 11-0) remained unbeaten in region play, but that does not mean that SPX coach Kyle Snipes was pleased even after the home team built a a 55-34 lead.

“We kind of let them back in the game at the end of the first half, and that was just us not boxing out,” he said.

Snipes is demanding, which has helped the Lions forge an 86-23 record in his three-plus seasons.

Actually, SPX scored the final five points of the first half to lead 27-14 at the break. He had a point, though, …

Continue reading Girls basketball: No. 3 St. Pius blunts No. 9 Decatur »

By S. Thomas Coleman
For the AJC

They say heavy is the head that wears the crown. That goes for queens as well as kings.

Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy head coach Jackie Cowan knows that all too well. Her Warriors have been ranked No. 1 in the AJC Top 10 since the beginning of the season, have had the No. 1 Class A power ranking since it was first released three weeks ago, and are 19-2 overall. One of the losses (57-56) was to St. Joseph Catholic, the top-ranked team in West Virginia, during a holiday tournament. The other was to Region 6 rival Darlington, now ranked No. 2 right behind SACA.

In the game, SACA trailed by double digits at one point but rallied before eventually falling by one, 47-46. Cowan said her team was suffering from the blissful hangover of being the only team in Georgia to knock off giant Wesleyan, ranked No. 1 in Class AA, 49-46, the night before traveling to Rome to face Dalton. SACA was shellacked by Wesleyan, 68-44, in last season’s Class A …

Continue reading Class A Blog: SACA and Cowan driving toward state title, latest power rankings »

By Stephen Black

Score Atlanta

Class AAAAAA No. 1 Archer may have convinced the state it is the top wrestling team regardless of classification with a 34-29 win over host Pope Saturday. The Tigers forfeited the final two matches to Pope after clinching the win with sophomore Elliot Lee’s win in the 170-pound weight class. Lee’s victory gave Archer an insurmountable 34-17 lead in the match between the top-ranked teams in Class AAAAA and Class AAAAAA.

Marist won the DeKalb County wrestling meet with 223 points to edge Southwest DeKalb, which had 210. The War Eagles trailed with three finals matches left, but won all three to clinch the victory. Kenneth Brinson (195), Jack Trainor (220) and Steven Wallace (285) won consecutively for Marist. Mel Bethune (138) and Matt Andres (152) also won for the War Eagles.

Defending champion McNair came in third, Lithonia fourth and Stephenson fifth. A total of 21 programs competed at the meet, which was hosted by Tucker High School. Marist …

Continue reading Wrestling: Archer beats Pope in battle of top-ranked teams »

By Stephen Black

Score Atlanta

Walton won both the boys and girls Cobb County swimming championships over the weekend at Mountain View Aquatic Center. The Raiders also won the overall meet with a combined score of 1,094.5, ahead of second-place Lassiter’s 1,029.5. Walton won the girls meet 574.5 to 546.5 over Lassiter and 520-483 in the boys meet.

At total of 17 schools took part in the meet, including both public and private schools. Kennesaw Mountain came in third in girls and fourth in boys while North Cobb finished third in the boys meet and Pope came in fourth in the girls meet.

Lassiter won four of six relays to propel into a second-place finish overall and in the girls meet. The Trojans also saw four swimmers win two events each, including Zach Bunner (100 backstroke, 100 butterfly), Jimmy Yoder (200 freestyle, 500 freestyle), Daniel Bridgers (50 freestyle, 100 freestyle) and Jordan Drake (100 breaststroke, 100 freestyle). Walton’s Nathan Hufnagle won the 200 IM …

Continue reading Swimming: Parkview, Walton win county meets »

Clifford Kerbo didn’t picture this, but he’ll take it.

For being completely new to Region 4-AA, over from 3-AA, Bleckley County’s boys basketball coach is somewhat surprised his team’s on a 16-game winning streak, 10-0 in region, ranked No. 4, and on the cusp of winning the regular-season region title by beating No. 10 Taylor County on the road tonight at 7:30.

Every region opponent has been a stranger, but the Royals have diagnosed each on the fly.

“The run has been nice, but you do kind of have to pinch yourself,” Kerbo said. “We have to keep looking at how we’re playing, how we’ve won and what we still have to do to get better. There’s no perfect team.”

Beating Taylor (14-6, 8-2) not only would secure the regular-season region crown for the Royals (19-2, 10-0). It also will guarantee them a third straight trip to the state playoffs with a berth in the region tournament semifinals at home in Cochran, where nobody can recall a region tournament ever being.

“There’s a lot …

Continue reading Bleckley boys on verge of winning region »

Here are some of the top Class AAAAA games to watch in the next-to-last full week of the regular season:

Boys

*Mays at Miller Grove (Friday): Last week, the No. 1 and No. 2 girls teams squared off in a Region 6-AAAAA game, with Tucker edging Stephenson 46-45. Now it’s the boys’ turn as top-ranked Miller Grove faces No. 2 Mays for the second time this season. Miller Grove won the first contest 68-58 on Dec. 11 and can clinch the subregion title with a victory. Miller Grove enters the week with an eight-game winning streak, while Mays has won six straight since an 80-78 loss to Lakeside-DeKalb on Jan. 8.

*Northside-Columbus at Bainbridge (Friday): The top two teams in Region 1-AAAAA will be meeting for the second time this season, with Northside looking to avenge a 68-59 loss to the Bearcats on Jan. 12. These teams have taken turns appearing in the state rankings over the past few weeks, and the winner of this game is a good bet to earn recognition in the updated rankings on …

Continue reading No. 1 Miller Grove, No. 2 Mays on collision course »