TIFTON — Fresh off their Region 1-6A title, the Tift County Lady Devils leap into the state playoffs tonight with a home game against Riverwood.
Tip-off is 7 p.m.
The Blue Devils open state on the road at Marist, which will be played in Atlanta Wednesday evening. Tift is a No. 3 seed to Marist’s No. 2.
Riverwood’s Lady Raiders are based out of Sandy Springs. They sported a record of 13-13 through the region tournament, qualifying for state with a 45-22 victory over North Atlanta, but dropping consecutive games to Marist and Lakeside (DeKalb) to finish fourth.
Stats for Riverwood have not been updated on MaxPreps since the middle of the season, but in those games, the top scorer was Lizzie McGrath. They score, on average, 40 points per game and give up 41.
Tift’s team averages look quite different than Riverwood’s, an average game score of 60-36. The Lady Devils are 23-4 and have only lost once game in the 2024 portion of their schedule.
The offense is a three-headed monster, three players averaging at least 13 points per game. Leading scorer is Caitlyn Burgess, a senior, who scores at a rate of 17 points per game and surpassed 1,000 career points this year.
Jimmya Cushion averages 15 points per game and is only 53 away from 1,000. Jalaya Miller nets 13 points per game. She has a chance to reach 1,000 next season.
Makayla Bryant starts at point guard, sacrificing her own scoring to assist her teammates. Faith Hillman has been their unsung hero as a center.
Should Tift win, they would pay another home game later this week, against either Morrow or Glynn Academy. Morrow is the No. 3 seed from Region 3, Glynn the No. 2 from Region 2.
Elsewhere in the region, Thomas County Central travels to St. Pius X and Houston County to Marist. Veterans hosts Lakeside.
The Blue Devils had a steep climb to reach No. 3. They were the No. 5 team in Region 1-6A in the regular season and scored an upset over Thomas County Central to make state. TCC had beaten Tift twice in the regular season.
Winning allowed Tift to continue their state tournament streak, currently the longest in the GHSA at 30 years and third all-time among boys programs, though first in the modern era.
The Devils gave Lee County a tough time in the region semifinals, then played four solid quarters to defeat Veterans in the consolation game.
Marist went 17-10 through the 4-6A tournament, losing a close game to St. Pius X in the championship. Like Riverwood, online stats for the War Eagles are incomplete. What is available is evident that Marist spreads its scoring out.
A very familiar surname sits at the top of the point per game, Luke Harpring. Owen Ritger was also averaging over 10 points per game. Tift has been taller than nearly every opponent this year, but will look up at Ritger, listed as 6-foot-9.
The Blue Devils’ scoring is spread out so much this year that eight players average between 5-7.5 points per game: Tristan Boone, TeShawn Bryant, Malachi Evans, McKyler Horne, Corey Howard, J.J. Lamar, Kaden Lawson and Fred White.
Jaden Nelson and Quay Bell are also regulars in the rotation, though Nelson’s specialty is defense.
Howard and Bryant are the top two scorers on the roster.
Should the Blue Devils pull another upset, they would face Brunswick or Woodward Academy. If both they and Brunswick pull upsets, the game would be at The Palace.
The rest of Region 1 sees Veterans at St. Pius X, Houston County hosting North Atlanta and Lee County hosting Riverwood.