Girls 3rd round playoffs: Five area teams shooting for Final 4 berths

The girls' Georgia High School Association playoffs get back underway on Tuesday with quarterfinal action around the state and in northeast Georgia.

Five northeast Georgia area teams are still alive, with four playing at home. Buford and North Forsyth in Class 6A, Cherokee Bluff in Class 3A, and Banks County and Rabun County in Class A Division 1 will all look to advance to the Final 4.

Class 6A will be a gauntlet with seven No. 1 seeds and a No. 2 seed in the Elite 8 round. North Forsyth (6-6A) and Buford (8-6A) are among the seven region champions, and if they both advance, the two teams will meet in the semifinals.

The Lady Raiders beat Buford 55-44 on Jan. 25 in Buford during the regular season. The 55 scored by NoFo is the 2nd-most against the Lady Wolves during the season.

Both face tough quarterfinal showdowns. In the final Sandy Spiel rankings, North Forsyth was ranked third and takes on fifth-ranked Carrollton at home. Buford, ranked ninth, plays host to seventh-ranked Newton. 

Class 3A has played out true to form. The top eight seeds advanced, including Cherokee Bluff, the No. 4 seed and Region 8-3A champ. The Lady Bears will play host to fifth-seeded Monroe.

In Class A D1, No. 2 seed Banks County is still alive, as is No. 23 seed Rabun County, who is the only team not among the top 8 seeds. The Lady Wildcats took down No. 7 Worth County in the second round on the road, 51-45.

The Lady Leopards (23-5) won both regular season meetings with Rabun County, 59-43 in Homer and 61-29 in Tiger late in the season. But Rabun County (14-12) has pulled off two road wins in the playoffs and has won 3 of its last four games.

The Lady Wildcats are one of just two girls teams, along with Jackson-Atlanta in Class 4A, in the eight GHSA classifications to get two road playoff wins in the first two rounds of the 2025 playoffs.

(See below for the entire schedule of Tuesday's 3rd round games:)