The second round is in the books and only 16 teams remain: eight on the guys' side and eight on the girls' side. Overall, NO. 1 Westlake, behind another strong showing from Oklahoma-bound Raymond Willis, is set to go against Rashad Hassan and Riverdale, the Region 4-AAAA champion. Willis netted 38 points in Westlake's 74-69 second-round win and he has 56 points for the playoffs in total. Elsewhere, No. 2 Columbia struggled from the free-throw line, hitting only 15 of 32, but still advanced to face Tony Woods and Rome in the quarters.
On the other side of the draw, Noel Johnson recorded 28 points, one game after hitting for 30, and Fayette County survived to face Jonesboro, who eked out a one-point win over Statesboro. The final quadrant finds No. 4 Lithia Springs's Jeremy Flagg going against Miller Grove's Mfon Udofia, who struggled to find his shot in the second round. Miller Grove was averaging 70 ppg before only tallying 59 in the win over Cherokee.
As for the girls, No. 1 Southwest DeKalb is looking stronger by the game. Their record now stands at 28-2 after taking down Norgthwest Whitfield 68-53 behind Charenee Stephens's 17 points and Eboni Mitchell's 16. Kayla Lewis will also look to pitch in when the team faces Region 8 champion Clarke Central in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, in the top of the bracket, No. 3 Westlake moved past Americus-Sumter behind the efforts of Sharnae Boykin (33 points) and Tamika Willis (22 points). Dalia robinson will be an excellent third spoke of Westlake's triumvirate when the Lions take on Baldwin. Tessah Holt is one Fayette County player that Northside-Warner Robins will want to try and contain. Holt scored 21 in the Bainbridge blowout and she gets help from Anma Onyeuku. But the Eagles can counter with Tai Brown, who can score in bunches. Finally, Mays senior Sade' Means hit for 24 points in the second round and is looking to take down No. 7 Madison County and Courtney Freeman in the quarters.
Proctor can be reached at fproctor@scoreatl.com.
