Sports

Acworth Basketball Proves It's Elite

Allatoona, North Cobb and Harrison reach the state quarterfinals for girls and boys.

Acworth high school basketball fans should be smiling today after a history-making Wednesday night.

All three public high schools serving Acworth are sending their girls and boys teams to the state Elite Eight.

boys and girls teams swept a second-round doubleheader at home to advance to the quarterfinals of the Georgia High School Association’s AAA basketball playoffs for the first.

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The fourth-ranked Lady Bucs defeated Columbus, 54-40, behind 21 points from Alexis Ezell and 14 from Elise Spann, Score Atlanta reported.

Their next game will be Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Northwest Georgia Trade Center in Dalton vs. North Hall, a 47-45 winner over Carrollton.

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In the second game, the fifth-ranked Buccaneers beat Towers, 50-39, to reach the Elite Eight. They’ll play Atlanta’s Washington High at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Northwest Georgia Trade Center. Washington defeated LaFayette, 68-40.

Across town, AAAAA’s second-ranked boys team, , rallied from nine points behind in the fourth quarter to beat Stephenson, 60-57.

The comeback put the Warriors in the state quarterfinals for the first time, The Marietta Daily Journal said.

North Cobb, which is 26-4 for the year, trailed with as little as 25 seconds left in the game against the 9-21 Jaguars, the MDJ said.

Lee Moore led the Warriors with 25 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter, Score Atlanta said.

Next up for North Cobb is Savannah at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Fort Valley State, west of Interstate 75 in the Warner Robins area.

That game will come between two all-Cobb, all-Region 4-AAAAA games in the AAAAA girls tournament.

North Cobb, which beat Lowndes 57-50 on the road Tuesday night, will play at 7. Amber Reeves led the Lady Warriors with 18 points against Lowndes, the Valdosta Daily Times said.

In the opener of Saturday’s quadruple-header, the top-ranked, undefeated girls will play , which with a 54-40 win Wednesday night at Valdosta. Until last week, the Lady Hoyas had , led alone reached the quarterfinals.

Nikki Hegstetter was dominant for Harrison, leading all scorers with 22 points, the Valdosta Daily Times reported.

Wednesday’s win was part of a second-round doubleheader. Harrison’s boys also won the second game against Valdosta, 63-51.

Ryan Blumenthal led the Hoyas with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Jeremy Presley and Marshall Guilmette also scored in double figures, Score Atlanta said.

Blumenthal hit two free throws in the first minute of the fourth quarter to give the Hoyas a 43-41 lead that they never surrendered, the Valdosta Daily Times said.

Up next for Harrison at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Fort Valley State is M.L. King, a 77-61 winner over South Cobb on Wednesday.


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