COVINGTON, Ga. — Beginning on Feb. 12, all eight local teams competed in their respective region tournaments. Each team entered the tournament facing different scenarios. 

But, at the time of this publication, four of the area teams were eliminated from postseason action. 

And it all began with both of Alcovy’s teams performances. 

Alcovy Tigers

On Feb. 15, the Tigers of Alcovy traveled to Lakeside High School in Evans to compete in the Region 3-AAAAAA tournament. 

With a 4-6 region record, the Tigers entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed facing the No. 5 seed Heritage Patriots. 

Alcovy lost to the Patriots 70-59, bouncing the Tigers from the tournament and ending the hope of a state playoff berth. 

This was the first loss Alcovy ously, Alcovy defeated the Patriots 74-68 in overtime on Jan. 14 and concluded the regular season with a 91-75 win at Heritage on Feb. 8.  

Head coach Mack Hardwick noticed something different, though, this time around. 

“We knew [Heritage] was going to make adjustments,” Hardwick said. “It was close for the most part and the game could’ve gone either way, but the ball didn’t fall our direction. Heritage was definitely hungry, too.” 

The loss brings Alcovy’s season to an end with a final record of 7-15 overall in 2022. 

Lady Tigers

Just like the Tigers, the Alcovy Lady Tigers matched up with the Heritage Lady Patriots in the first round of the Region 3-AAAAAA tournament. 

This year’s tournament was hosted by Lakeside High School in Evans. Round one took place on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

The Lady Tigers entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed with Heritage at No. 4. 

For the third time this season, the Lady Tigers lost to the Lady Patriots. This time, it was a 10-point loss for Alcovy losing 54-44. 

Tuesday’s loss ultimately ended Alcovy’s 2021-22 season. The Lady Tigers finish with a 6-16 overall record and a 2-8 record in Region 3-AAAAAA action with no state playoff berth.

Nevertheless, with the young core returning for next year, head coach Justin Hunter doesn’t feel like this year’s experience will be for nothing. 

“The key thing with the freshmen specifically is they can say, ‘Hey, we have the experience playing in a tournament like this now,’” Hunter said. “And they now have three years left to set certain goals for themselves to make it there and go past this point.” 

In addition to Alcovy, both of Eastside’s postseasons were finished by way of losses in the Region 8-AAAAA tournament, too.

Eastside Eagles

Coming off a first-round bye, the No. 4 seed Eagles welcomed the fifth-seeded Gladiators to The Nest on Wednesday night for a quarterfinal matchup. Clarke Central knocked down its first shot less than 30 seconds into the contest and led wire-to-wire en route to a 56-44 victory.

The Gladiators came in white-hot on the heels of a 95-31 dismantling of Johnson-Gainesville in Monday’s opening round. They showed no signs of slowing down, storming out to a 14-5 lead and sucking the energy out of Eastside’s home gym.

After closing out the first half with a 26-21 lead, Clarke Central continued to hit the shots it needed to keep the Eagles at an arm’s length. Eastside took a 37-32 deficit into the fourth quarter.

Last winter, in his first season at the helm, head coach Dorrian Randolph led the Eagles to their first state playoff berth since 2017. He came up shy of booking a repeat trip, but he believes that failure can fuel his club going forward.

“This one hurts,” Randolph said. “But it just basically lets me know that we’ve got to get to work. We’ve got to work even harder.”

As a result, the Eagles’ season ends with a 13-12 overall record as well as an 8-6 region record. 

Lady Eagles 

Before the Lady Eagles could focus on the region tournament, they had to compete against Apalachee in the play-in round. 

Eastside was successful in its quest to punch its ticket into the second round of the region tournament defeating Apalachee 70-43. 

Senior Lizzie Teasley scored a career-high 37 points to propel her team to victory and grant a matchup with Walnut Grove on Feb. 16. 

In Wednesday’s road matchup, the Lady Eagles fell short losing by 18 points, 64-46, ultimately ending their 2021-22 campaign. 

Even so, head coach Gladys King hopes her team sees the hidden lesson in competing in the region tournament. 

“I hope the girls learn that working during the offseason helps,” King said. “I hope they understand what it takes to win and how hard you have to go each day. You can’t take days off because other teams are in the gym getting better.” 

As a result of the loss, Eastside finishes with a 6-16 overall record and a 4-10 record in region play. 

Correspondent Mason Wittner contributed to this report.