COVINGTON, Ga. — All four of the girls’ teams will have an uphill climb in their respective tournaments as the majority of the teams will enter on the bottom half of their brackets. 

But that isn’t discouraging their head coaches. 

Alcovy 

The Lady Tigers lost the final game of the regular season to the Heritage High School Patriots 64-58. With the loss, the Lady Tigers finished the regular season with a 7-15 overall record and a 2-8 record in region play. 

Despite the loss, Coach Justin Hunter is confident in his young team’s chances in next Tuesday’s region playoff game. Hunter believes his team is capable of beating good teams if they can get out of their own way. 

“We get ourselves into trouble when we miss free throws and when we have too many turnovers,” Hunter said. 

According to Maxpreps, the Lady Tigers will likely match up against the Lady Patriots again in the first round of the region tournament. Alcovy is 0-2 against Heritage this season. 

The Region 3-AAAAAA tournament will be held at Lakeside (Evans) High School from Feb. 14-18. After Tuesday’s loss, Hunter stressed how he believes his team is ready for postseason basketball.

Eastside

The Lady Eagles have had a difficult season only winning five total games in the 2021-22 season. However, heading into the regular season, head coach Gladys King labeled this season as a “rebuilding year.” 

Now at the regular season’s end, King wholeheartedly believes that the work her players put in throughout this season is paying off. 

“We never stopped,” King said. “We practice everyday. We don’t take days off. They have all improved since the beginning of the season. They all are working hard to help fill in gaps and play as a team. I am proud of each of them for not giving up and not making excuses.” 

Having won two of its last three games, Eastside will enter the region tournament as a sixth seed with a possible matchup with No. 3 Walnut Grove in round one. 

Eastside had one more regular season matchup on Friday, Feb. 11 at Loganville. 

The Region 8-AAAAA tournament will be hosted by Jackson County High School from Feb. 14-19.

Newton

The Lady Rams have found themselves on the losing end of seven of their last nine games, with five of those losses against region opponents.

Head coach Tiffani Johnson recognized that it hasn’t been an ideal season for the Lady Rams. But, in that recognition, she’s hopeful for her team’s chances in the Region 4-AAAAAAA tournament. 

“We have had an up and down season, even off the court,” Johnson said. “But being able to focus and concentrate as a team [will] put us ahead with being able to handle [the tournament].” 

They’ll enter the region tournament looking to rebound from a 64-60 loss to South Gwinnett on Feb. 10. 

As a result, Newton has a 5-17 overall record with a 2-6 region record. Based on Maxpreps’ standings, the Lady Rams will be the No. 4 seed for Region 4-AAAAAAA. 

This year’s tournament will be held at Newton High School from Feb. 12-17. 

Social Circle

Social Circle’s girls team will enter the postseason around .500 overall. At the time of this publication, the Lady Redskins were 12-12 with a 7-4 record in Region 8A-Public. 

Their region record places them third in the standings, according to Maxpreps.

The Lady Redskins’ regular season finale was on the road Friday, Feb. 11 at Commerce. Heading into that matchup, they had won four of their previous five games. Prior to that, they had lost three straight. 

Now, Social Circle will set its sights on the region tournament. 

Region 8A-Public’s tournament will be held at Commerce High School from Feb. 14-18