Bleckley girls basketball keeps rolling, Wilco and Bleckley boys show promise

This article was originally published in the Jan. 3, 2025 issue of the Times Journal Post.

The Bleckley girls team has stolen the show so far this season in area basketball, starting the season with a 7-2 record before the new year and climbing into multiple GHSA Class A-Division I Top 10 rankings.

The Lady Royals reached the No. 8 spot in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution’s A-Division statewide rankings, while Sandy’s Spiel ranked Bleckley County at No. 9 headed into Week 8 of the season.

The Lady Royals first appeared in the Sandy’s Spiel leaderboard in Week 5 and have not left since. 

The only two losses they’ve sustained came against another top-10 ranked squad — region opponent Washington County back on Dec. 10 — and a significantly higher-classification foe — the 4A Veterans Warhawks, who are 7-3 themselves with losses to powerhouse Warner Robins and Loundes as their only blemishes.

Bleckley County’s wins are also impressive, as it defeated 4A Perry in the season opener and also took down region opponents Dublin and Dodge County. The latest win for the Lady Royals came against Vidalia last week, 57-40.

In Bleckley’s second win of the season against Vidalia, the Indians actually took the early advantage with a 10-0 run. The Lady Royals stormed back and took a narrow 22-18 lead into halftime and didn’t look back, outscoring Vidalia by 13 in the second half to notch the victory.

After a holiday break for virtually every team in the region, Bleckley will face a tough slate coming back into action in January. The Lady Royals take on East Laurens — another ranked team — Friday night, and a key matchup with one of the state’s best teams, the Central Chargers, looms January 7 on the road in Macon.

The Wilkinson County girls team has been less fortunate, beginning the season with an 0-9 record before region play.

The Warriors landed a tough draw at the start, facing two top programs in Taylor County and Macon County early on. But losses to Dooly County and Montgomery County, two less dominant schools, give the inauspicious start a bit more of an edge — not to mention the ugly blowouts the Warriors endured against Dublin and Lovejoy in recent contests, each of which they lost by 40 or more points.

Wilkinson will begin region play and hope for a turnaround Friday at home against Hancock Central before hitting the road against Wilcox County Saturday and hosting Johnson County Monday.

The Twiggs County girls started the season in similar fashion, going 1-9 in their first 10 ahead of region play.

The Cobras did fare well against a higher classification team when they defeated Rutland in overtime 41-39 back on Dec. 10, but they’ve also run into some steamrollers. Powerhouse Thomson dispatched them with ease in an 82-17 rout, then Twiggs became the latest victim in the ACE Gryphons’ seven-game winning streak. The Cobras have now failed to break 30 points in their last six straight games, all losses.

The good news is that region play has not yet begun. Twiggs County will have a chance to reset and bounce back, but they’ll need to do it against a tough 5-2 Johnson County team this Friday.

The Bleckley boys team will try to find its footing in the new year, but the Royals seem to be in good position as region play starts to heat up.

While the 5-6 record overall does not reassure at first glance, Bleckley County has gotten wins when they needed them and fought hard against tough opponents. 

While they experienced double-digit losses to region powerhouses Dublin and Dodge County in early December, they bounced back with two crucial wins against Washington County and Jefferson County, two more region teams.

The 2-2 region mark has them in the hunt still, though matchups with other key teams like Central and Southwest still linger. After a 1-1 performance at the Banks County Jingle Jam last week, Bleckley County will get two home games against region opponents — against East Laurens on Friday and Dodge for the second time Saturday — before travelling to Macon to face Central next week.

The Wilkinson County boys are in a similar spot, as a 5-5 start puts them deceptively under the radar to begin the year. Three of the Warriors’ five losses came consecutively to start the season, and they all came against quality opponents on the road. Macon County, Taylor County and Dublin are all ranked in their respective classifications’ Top 10 polls by Sandy’s Spiel, one of Georgia’s top high school basketball news sources.

Wilkinson proceeded to rattle off four straight wins to get over .500 in impressive fashion before dropping two more games, including another loss to Dublin, this time by an encouragingly narrow 62-59 margin.

A key bounce-back win over Crawford County in local tournament play — and by a 20-point margin, no less — brought Wilkinson to 5-5 headed into the new year. Now the Warriors get their first taste of the region in a game against Hancock Central Friday before travelling Saturday to face Wilcox County.

The Twiggs County boys team has struggled in similar fashion to the girls, going 1-9 through 10 games. The lone win, 54-42 defeat of Trinity Christian out of Dublin, came all the way back on Dec. 5.

The next eight losses came in succession, a few of them close but most of them not. A difficult road trip against Thomson and a pair of losses against ACE and Stratford of Macon stick out of the streak, but the Cobras will look to get right against region opponents.