Girls basketball playoffs: Five teams advance to Elite 8 round; Lakeview moves into GIAA Final 4

Home Sweet Home proved to be valuable for several northeast Georgia area girls basketball teams on Friday night.

Five teams in the Georgia High School Association -- Buford, North Forsyth, Chestatee, White County and Banks County -- all moved into the quarterfinal round with big wins at home. And, due to the GHSA coin toss for the quarterfinal round, all five will be back at home on Tuesday with a chance to get to the Final Four in their respective classifications.

The Lakeview Academy girls advanced to their second straight GIAA Final Four with a 76-43 win over The Brookwood School at Tattnall Square in Macon.

Buford dominated North Gwinnett 71-24 at the Buford Arena in Class 7A, while undefeated North Forsyth ended an 11-year losing streak to Sequoyah with a 45-28 win in Coal Mountain in Class 6A.

The Chestatee girls made it back-to-back trips to the Class 4A Elite 8 for the first time in program history, holding off a scrappy Heritage-Catoosa squad, 61-55, at the Lynn Cottrell Center.

The White County girls played one of their best games of the season in a stunning 66-35 rout of Franklin County in Cleveland in Class 3A. In Class 2A, Banks County held off Model, 43-29, in Homer.

However, Jefferson was not able to survive the upset bug in Class 5A at The Arena. Cartersville took down the Lady Dragons in overtime, 66-64. They trailed by 15 at one point in the second half before staging a huge rally. But they missed a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer.

And back in Class 3A, Dawson County was not able to get a second road win, falling 48-40 to Hart County in Hartwell.

Click here for the roundup of Friday night's action around the area.