Bleckley County teams in good playoff position, Wilkinson County winning streak snapped

Both the boys and girls basketball teams for Bleckley County look poised for the playoffs in the season’s final week.

The boys team in particular solidified its case last week, notching key wins over region foes Northeast and ACE while also getting a higher classification win against Hawkinsville.

The latter win was perhaps the most impressive, as the Royals defeated Hawkinsville 68-48 despite the Red Devils’ Bryson Singletary scoring 22 points in the contest. The three wins together moved Bleckley County to 13-9 overall and 7-3 in the region.

The Northeast and ACE victories, while not games against region powerhouse teams, still helped the Royals hang onto the fourth place spot in Region 2-A Division I behind only Dublin, Southwest and East Laurens, in that order. They’ve won five straight games dating back to Jan. 17.

The Royals upset the Patriots, one of the top A-Division I teams in the state, on the road earlier this year to make some noise in the region and earn a statement victory. 

After Bleckley County gets to play Southwest again, this time at home in Tuesday’s game, they will have another home game against Central in a Thursday night game before traveling to ACE for the last game of the season Friday.

The Bleckley County boys are crucially ranked No. 23 in the GHSA Postseason Ranking Formula (PSR), which determines postseason seeding, and that’s without the private schools taken out of the bracket as they will be when the state tournament field is set later this month.

The girls team, while not seeing the same winning streak as the boys, is still in a good position heading into the regular season’s last slate of games. They have an identical region record of 7-3 with an overall record of 12-7 on the year.

The girls won three games against Southwest, Northeast and Hawkinsville to round out January before losing to ACE, one of the top A-Division I girls teams, in a 56-44 showdown to begin February. 

The girls are in fourth place in Region 2, like the boys, but are behind Central, ACE and East Laurens. That means the girls will have a chance to make up more ground, as the Chargers and Gryphons will be the last two games on the schedule.

With so many top-10 ranked teams in the region, the Royals are No. 20 by PSR headed into the last week of regular season games.

The Wilkinson County boys team finally had its winning streak broken, falling 58-51 to region foe Hancock Central for its first defeat since Dec. 27. The loss came in the last game of a grueling stretch of four games over five days.

The Warriors could only muster seven points in the final quarter, opening the door for the Bulldogs to take the lead with their 17 fourth-quarter points and claim the win. It was Wilkinson County’s first region loss of the season. Sophomore Josiah Ingram led Hancock Central with a 21-point performance in the upset.

The Warriors are still 14-6 overall and 7-1 in region play on the season, though, and are in second place in Region 5-A Division II. The Bulldogs are 8-1 in the region, giving them an ever-so-slight edge. Both teams will have a chance to compete in the region tournament.

Wilkinson County is No. 24 in the PSR for A-Division II, giving the Warriors a solid chance at the postseason once private schools are removed from the bracket, even if they are not able to pull away in the region tournament.

The Wilkinson County girls team went 2-2, improving its region standing as it also played four games in five days. 

The Warriors are 4-17 overall, but all four of those victories came in region play, two against Twiggs County and two against Georgia Military College. The wins give them a 4-5 record in region play, but they still rank well behind Hancock Central, Johnson County and Glascock County, all of which the Warriors have lost to.

Both Wilkinson teams traveled to Treutlen for a non-region game Tuesday before they finish the season against Johnson County this Friday.

The Twiggs County boys team sits at 5-15 on the season and 4-4 in region play with three games remaining. The girls are 2-18 overall and 1-7 in region play. Both teams have struggled in recent region play, though the boys did break a short losing skid with a win Jan. 31 over Georgia Military College.

The Cobras teams will face Upson-Lee in non-region action Thursday before getting one last home game Friday to round out the season against Glascock County.