Bradley Central and McMinn Central girls’ clinched region titles Wednesday night, the Baylor boys’ played in the DII-AA Final Four in Nashville this afternoon, and it’s all local for both the 3-2A and 3-3A region boys’ titles tonight.
As we’ve often seen, when it comes tournament time, the cream seems to always rise to the top, and that was the case in Cleveland last night. The Bradley Central Bearettes won the program’s 40th region championship (their 4th consecutive), defeating Stone Memorial 46-35. Jamaryn Blair lead Bradley with 16 points, and Anna Walker added in 14. They will play 4-3A runner-up Oakland at home this Saturday.
In other girls’ action, McMinn Central took down top ranked Meigs County in an overtime thriller, winning the 3-2A region title 58-56. The win for McMinn Central snapped a 22 game win streak for Meigs County.
There is plenty of great boys’ games today. Baylor competed for a shot at a state title in Nashville vs. Brentwood Academy earlier today, losing 39-37. Had the Red Raiders won, it would have been a 2nd straight state championship appearance.
In 3-2A, Brainerd and Howard split the regular season series 1-1, so this championship game will serve as a rubber match. Speaking of teams that are familiar with each other, Cleveland and East Hamilton will meet for the 4th time this season in the 3-3A title game. The Blue Raiders have won the last two meetings, including a 56-54 victory in the District 5-AAA Championship just a little over a week ago. Both of these games should be quite entertaining!
In Georgia, the Heritage girls’ season came to an end in the 4A Elite 8. The Lady Generals faced a tall task, taking on the undefeated, top ranked Carver-Columbus team. They lost 71-43.
TSSAA Boys
DII-AA State Semifinals
Brentwood Academy 39, Baylor 37
Region 3-2A Championship
Brainerd (18-10) vs. Howard (24-7)
- Date/Time: Tonight at 7pm EST
- Location: Signal Mountain High School
Region 3-3A Championship
Cleveland (27-4) vs. East Hamilton (22-8)
- Date/Time: Tonight at 7pm EST
- Location: Cleveland High School
Region 3-2A Semifinals
Brainerd 71, Sweetwater 65 (Game on Tuesday)
Howard 63, Tyner Academy 51 (Game on Tuesday)
Region 3-3A Semifinals
East Hamilton 68, Stone Memorial 65 (Game on Tuesday)
Cleveland 67, White County 45 (Game on Tuesday)
TSSAA Girls
Region 3-2A Championship
McMinn Central 58, Meigs County 56
Region 3-3A Championship
Bradley Central 46, Stone Memorial 35
GHSA Girls Basketball State Playoffs – Elite 8
Class AAAA
Carver-Columbus 71, Heritage 43 (Game on Wednesday)
GHSA Boys Basketball State Playoffs – Final Four
Class A (Private)
Christian Heritage vs. ELCA
- Saturday, March 2nd at University of North Georgia
Written by Brooks Carter – Assistant Program Director and Zone Preps Host