With region tournaments in full swing, Rockdale County schools are very much in the mix as midweek brings semifinal matchup of state-playoff bound teams.

Out of the six basketball teams, all but two will represent the county in the state playoffs after Heritage suffered an overtime quarterfinal loss and Salem and Heritage girls' teams met up in the quarterfinals Wednesday.

The Lady Seminoles came out on top, beating their cross-town rivals 59-40 at Apalachee. Brianna Bush led Salem with 15 points, followed by Shay Tarver with 11 and Ayanna Mitchell with 10.

Bush went 5 of 7 from 3-point range and Jennifer Tindi grabbed 14 rebounds in the win.

It was the sixth straight win for Salem, which moves on to the semifinals against Flowery Branch at 7 p.m. Friday.

Rockdale boys earned the No. 1 seed in the Region 2-AAAAAA playoffs after defeating Lovejoy 63-62 on the road Saturday in a game which was postponed due to the Wildcats reaching the state finals in football back in December.

The Bulldogs were led by LaRonta Parks with 28 points on 9 of 12 shooting, including 6 of 7 from 3-point range.
Darius Mitchell added 11 points and C.J. Wilson had eight assists and six steals.

The victory gave Rockdale a bye in the first round of the past week's region tournament, where it will face the winner of Wednesday Newton vs. Morrow game on Friday at 8:30 p.m. in Luella.

Rockdale's girls' basketball team also will participate in the state playoffs, after playing its way in.

The Lady Bulldogs entered the Region 2-AAAAAA tournament as a No. 3 seed, matching up wih sixth-seeded Morrow Tuesday. Rockdale came away with a 55-47 victory, setting up a 4 p.m. showdown with Newton in the semifinals Friday.
The Lady Rams defeated Druid Hills 61-42 in first-round action to set up the neighboring-county final four game.

Rockdale's first-round win was its third-straight victory, a streak which started with a 72-45 defeat over Morrow Feb. 8.

In the Region 8-AAAAA tournament, the Salem boys' basketball team so reached the semifinals, defeating Winder-Barrow 64-57 Tuesday. The victory earned the Salem Seminoles a meeting with the winner of Clarke Central and Loganville on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

Salem defeated Clarke Central in both its previous meetings this season and split its two earlier games with Loganville.

The Salem girls' team met up with Heritage at 4 p.m. Wednesday with the winner going to the region semifinals and the state playoffs.