Decatur Girls Play Tuesday in State Tourney

Brackets and matchups were set Sunday for the 32-team AAA state playoffs, culminating in the March 2 semifinals at Savannah State and the March 9 championships at the Macon Centerplex.

The 10th-ranked Decatur High girls, region 6-AAA’s two seed, will play Fannin County, three seed from region 7, on Tuesday at the Decatur High Arena. Tipoff is tentatively scheduled for 6 p.m.

The third-seeded boys travel to Gainesville Wednesday to play sixth-ranked North Hall, the second seed out of region 7, in a game that’ll definitely start at 7 p.m.

If the girls win, they’ll meet the Sonoraville-Hart County winner Friday, which will also be a home game if Hart County wins. The boys would play the winner of Morgan County-Ringold on Saturday.

The Fannin County girls are 10-17, and their leading player is 5-10 junior Hope Cochran, who averages a team-high 12.6 points and 7.5 rebounds.

Since losing six of seven games at the season’s mid-point Fannin’s won six of its last 10, including Saturday’s 41-24 victory over White County, avenging an earlier nine point loss.

On the boys side, 25-3 North Hall has been in the state’s top five nearly all season. In the region 7 championship Saturday North Hall lost 50-36 to second-ranked Buford.

Buford used a 1-3-1 zone to hold North to only nine second-half points. For Decatur, the 1-3-1 was crucial component in its strong regional-tournament showing last week.

“Among the team’s we’ve played, they remind me of [St. Pius X],” Decatur coach Charlie Copp said. “They’re not real big, with one 6-4 guy and the rest in the 5-10 to 6-2 range. But they have good shooters, they move the ball well, and they will run. They have a point guard who reminds me of [Blessed Trinity’s Patrick] Lamar.”

Copp also said that junior Murad Dillard, who hurt his ankle late in Friday’s game against Cedar Grove, should be available Wednesday. His x-rays were negative but Copp added, “I probably won’t know until Monday or Tuesday how effective he’ll be.”

Decatur and North Hall have one common opponent in Jefferson. North Hall beat Jefferson 61-51 on Feb. 2, while Decatur beat Jefferson 50-49 in December on Dillard’s 12-foot jumper at the buzzer.

This is the third straight year the girls have made the state playoffs, and fourth time in the last five seasons. This is the fifth straight year for the boys.

The girls last won a state title in 1973, the boys in 1983. The boys last went to the Final Four in 2003.  

Editor's note: An earlier version of this article said the Decatur High girls would play Tuesday at 7 p.m.