Friday's Report: GIAA/GHSA basketball, spring sports, Mercer, Russell Henley; UGA, Tech, Braves, Falcons, GSUs; Olympics, college 🏈/🏀, NBA, NFL, golf, NASCAR, MLB
📰S📰C📰O📰R📰E📰B📰O📰A📰R📰D
High Schools
(Teams: Please post first and last names, and names are preferred over social media handles (they know who they are, most people don’t) and post team names, not mascots)
(Basketball: Postseason tournament scores/pairings on www.centralgasports.com)
🏀🏀🏀Girls Basketball🏀🏀🏀
Baldwin 65, Hephzibah 30
East Laurens 49, Central 39
East Laurens closed it out with a 12-0 run in the final 4:35. JaMyree Simmons led Central with 12 points, all on 3-pointers. Zahmaria Robinson topped the Falcons with 20 while Deanna Lowther added 18.
Glascock County 49, GMC Prep 47
Hancock Central 52, Johnson County 37
Macon County 50, Schley County 38
Northeast 43, Washington County 41
Homestanding Washington County was on the verge of being blown out only to storm back in the second half. The third and final tie of the fourth quarter – which came after Northeast’s five-point lead evaporated in about two minutes, followed by four straight missed free throws – was broken on a drive by Indiasia Bell for a 42-40 lead with 72 seconds left. Central held on.
Putnam County 69, Jasper County 15
Sandy Creek 69, Upson-Lee 40
Westside 54, Rutland 40
🏀🏀🏀Boys Basketball🏀🏀🏀
Baldwin 55, Hephzibah 47
Dublin 50, Dodge County 47
The Irish went winless in region play, but have won four straight in the postseason, stunning Dodge County, which had won 67-52 and 57-31. Kyler Johnson had 14 for the Indians.
Hancock Central 65, Twiggs County 43
Putnam County 76, Southwest Atlanta 64
J’Mari Greene went off for 29 points to lead Putnam County in the semifinal, with 18 from Tamaud Woodson and 13 from Jaylen Nelson
Southwest 60, Washington County 44
The Patriots advanced to their third straight region tournament finale behind 27 points from Chase Dupree and 22 from CJ Howard. Kaden Collins had 19 points and Aiden Watts 10 for the Golden Hawks, held to below 50 points for only the sixth time this season.
⚾ ⚾ ⚾ Baseball ⚾ ⚾ ⚾
Athens Academy 9, Putnam County 2
Athens Christian 2, Tattnall 1
Bleckley County 6, Dodge County 1
Commerce 8, Jasper County 4
FPD 4, Thomas County Central 2
The Vikings knocked off a GHSA 5A team for the second time this week.
Houston County 3, Woodstock 3
Ethan Kenney and Owen Mauney teamed up for the shutout.
Northeast 17, Southwest 7
Northside 6, Warner Robins 0
Toombs County 2, Dublin 1
Upson-Lee 8, ACE 7
Veterans 8, Perry 7
Wilcox County 8, Mount de Sales 5
⚽ ⚽ ⚽ Soccer ⚽ ⚽ ⚽
G-Bleckley County 13, Macon County 0
B-Bleckley County 1, Macon County 0
B-FPD 4, Central Fellowship 4
B-GMC Prep 10, Jones County 0
B-Jasper County 1, Jackson 0
B-Richmond Academy 2, Baldwin 0
B-Wayne County 1, Perry 0
🏫🏫🏫College🏫🏫🏫
(Colleges: Please post links to stories with social media posts, and team names instead of logos in graphics)
🏀🏀🏀Basketball🏀🏀🏀
M-Chattanooga 94, Mercer 90
🥎🥎🥎Softball🥎🥎🥎
Middle Georgia State 16, Wesleyan 0; Middle Georgia State 12, Wesleyan 1
Pro
🏀🏀🏀NBA🏀🏀🏀
📰C📰O📰V📰E📰R📰A📰G📰E📰
Around/About Central Georgia
Weather interrupts Genesis, Henley
Russell Henley was among those playing on the same level as the weather – not good – at the Genesis.
The Maconite is tied for 54th in the suspended tournament, with about of the third of the field still in the first round.
He is two over through 13 holes, with a 2-1 bogeys-to-birdies ratio.
Henley is in mighty good company in the bottom quarter of the field, tied with Harris English and Jake Knapp, among others, and ahead of J.J. Spaun, Justin Rose, and tied-for-last Scottie Scheffler.
Around/About Georgia
Georgia is facing more reckless driving problems following the arrests of Cole and Ikinnagbon
With season slipping, Georgia Tech backs coach Damon Stoudamire and clings to pride
30 HR & 90 RBIs too much to ask from Austin Riley? 'I expect it every year'
'I loved every second of it': Sam Pittman reflects on his time as a Georgia assistant
Georgia football transfer portal tracker: Latest news, developments
Johnson and McCollum power Hawks past the 76ers as Atlanta snaps 3-game skid
For a second year, the same former UK recruit led an upset win over the Wildcats
State college basketball
The battle of the GSU goes to …
Georgia women fall in tight battle with No. 11 Oklahoma
A Worthy Read
Sports helped shape Jesse Jackson’s career and inspired the ex-quarterback to fight for equal rights
2026 Winter Olympics/Milan Cortina
United States wins 3rd Olympic gold in women’s hockey, beating Canada 2-1 on Megan Keller’s OT goal
Liu dazzles to win figure skating gold, ending a 24-year Olympic drought for US women
Hockey star Edwards’ family cheers at Olympic debut, thanks to Kelce brothers and a GoFundMe
Stolz’s Olympic gold streak ends with loss to China’s Ning Zhongyan in the 1,500
College Sports, the changing landscape
Another state moves to keep payments to college athletes secret
College Basketball/SEC/ACC/South
Enis scores 20 as South Florida knocks off Memphis
Graham has 27 in Alabama A&M’s win over Florida A&M
Jackson scores 31 as Arkansas State beats Louisiana
Hunter scores 30 as Central Arkansas downs Stetson
Hall’s 24 lead Texas State over South Alabama
Norris scores 19 in Samford’s victory against Citadel
Duncomb puts up 24, Winthrop downs South Carolina Upstate
College Basketball/Women
Betts powers No. 2 UCLA past Washington to clinch a share of the Big Ten title
Okot, Edwards pace No. 3 South Carolina over No. 25 Alabama
Booker leads five in double figures as No. 4 Texas defeats Arkansas
Fulwiley scores 26 as No. 7 LSU rallies to defeat No. 17 Mississippi
Fournier scores 26 as No. 9 Duke beats N.C. State for 17th straight win
Heiden tallies 21-point double-double as No. 13 Iowa beat Purdue
Pryor drops 22 in Texas A&M’s win over No. 21 Tennessee
Harris scores 15 as No. 22 North Carolina defeat Virginia Tech in OT
College Basketball/Men
Green Bay’s Gottlieb suspended by Horizon League after postgame rant
Okafor becomes third UConn men’s basketball player to have number retired
San Diego won’t bring back Lavin next season
No. 10 Illinois overwhelms USC by 36 points, cruising to its 14th win in 16 games
Ike scores 22 points as No. 11 Gonzaga beats San Francisco
NBA/Basketball
'I always had a mission': How LeBron James has maintained peak performance
Swanson: Thank you, Victor Wembanyama, for a fantastic All-Star Game
Grizzlies say Morant’s still feeling elbow discomfort and Caldwell-Pope will have finger surgery
Irving won’t play this season for the Mavericks as he continues recovery from knee injury
Magic use 3-point flurry to hand the Kings their franchise-record 15th straight loss
Brown helps Celtics thump Curry-less Warriors
Spurs beat the Suns 121-94 in Austin for their 7th straight win
NFL/NFC
Bears’ potential move to Indiana takes step forward as effort to build stadium in Illinois lingers
NFL/USFL/UFL/Football
Kuechly's HOF career was paved by preparation. He's not ready for what's next
Nielsen revises Super Bowl final rating to 125.6 million viewers
Baseball/MLB
New MLB union head Meyer dismisses salary cap, defends free agency, arbitration as labor clash looms
Kurtenbach: Does Giants manager Vitello actually want to be here?
Golf
McIlroy handles the rain and then wind to share clubhouse lead at Riviera
Tennis
Tennis participation in the US rises to a new high of 27.3 million in 2025, USTA says
Boxing/UFC/MMA/WWE
Mario Barrios defends WBC welterweight title against Ryan Garcia on Saturday
Around the nation/world
Daytona 500 and NBA All-Star Game surge in viewers despite competition from Winter Olympics
Scoreboards