STARTING FIVES

GIRLS

1. Hephzibah (25-2). Don't worry, Rebels fans. Your team can trek a tough playoff road carrying the weight of some very high expectations.

2. Glenn Hills (19-8). The maturation of 5-foot-10 sophomore Jessica Morton has keyed the team's surge. She can shoot and play down low.

3. Laney (24-3). The Lady Wildcats have won 13 in a row. Their expected second-round clash with Vidalia (25-2) looks very tough.

4. Butler (19-8). This squad has lost two games in a row, but that still does not dull the wonder of a state playoff appearance.

5. Greenbrier (22-3). Slumping squad must rebound to send Garrett Black to his coaching rocking chair with a well-deserved smile on his face.

BOYS

1. Glenn Hills (25-2). Coach Richard Wallace said last year's first-round upset came because of undisclosed injuries. The Spartans appear in good health and are primed for a deep run this time around.

2. Josey (25-3). An overtime loss to an extremely determined Swainsboro squad is no slight.

3. Swainsboro (16-9). Give coach Leroy Jordan some credit. When he guarantees a win, his team follows through on it.

4. North Augusta (21-5). Wrens pulled off a shocker. This team seemed destined for a Final Four berth.

5. Thomson (17-9). Look at the teams that beat Thomson: Seven of the nine losses were at the hand of teams that won at least 20 games.

STATE PLAYOFF PREVIEW

GIRLS

1. Providence Christian at Aquinas, Class A, Saturday: Lady Irish shoot for first state playoff win in team history.

2. Butler at Cairo, Class AAA, Saturday: Lady Bulldogs seek first playoff win since 1996. That was also the last time the team made the state playoffs.

3. Cook County at Josey, Class AA, Saturday: Lady Eagles back in state play after a two-year hiatus. It was the program's longest drought since 1992-1993.

BOYS

1. Cairo at Glenn Hills, Class AAA, Friday: Best team in the area will try to avoid repeating first-round upset of a year ago.

2. Thomson at Westover, Class AAA, Friday: Bulldogs have the best shot of all area teams to win on the road this weekend.

3. Bainbridge at Evans, Class AAAA, Friday: Knights have just one state playoff win in their history.

MEET A COACH

NAME: Scott Harrison

TEAM: Aquinas

AGE: 30

YEARS COACHING: Two years as head coach at Aquinas (five years before that as an assistant)

REGION TITLES: None

HE TEACHES: He's the instructor for advanced placement biology, marine biology and zoology. His classes are currently studying arthropods, classification of animals and intertidal communities.

INTERESTING: "Marine biology is the one most people like," he said. " We take several trips to the beach." Harrison's class took a field trip to the Georgia Aquarium on Wednesday. "Once a quarter we head to a different beach and we've got huge nets the kids go out and pull the nets and we collect different crabs, fish and shells. The classes go to Jekyll Island, Tybee Island, the Georgia Aquarium and the Florida Panhandle. There's one cool trip each quarter."

FAVORITE FISH: Jellyfish. "Awesome and beautiful," he said.

MARRIED: He's still a bachelor. "I've got 11 girls that take up my all my time on Friday and Saturday night," he said.

HIS CAREER: Harrison was a baseball guy. He spent one year as a reserve on the Thomson varsity basketball team.

HIS DEGREE: Harrison graduated from Augusta State with a biology major in 2001.

HIS COURT TIME: "It was more like B team play and sit the bench for varsity." he said. "I just played on a great team with guys like Vonteego Cummings."

HARRISON'S GAME: "I was a good shooter," he said. "With fundamentals. I got away with a bunch of stuff looking better than I was because I had a good head for the game."

HIS START: Aquinas needed an assistant for John Ribock during a coaching transition. He was asked if he wanted to join the coaching staff as the faculty representative on the coaching staff.

HIS GLORY DAYS: "I was always a baseball guy," he said. "I might have been more talented in basketball but really pursued baseball a lot more."

FAVORITE ALL-TIME PLAYER: Larry Bird.

FAVORITE ALL-TIME TEAM: Atlanta Braves

FIRST WIN VERSUS: Taliaferro County

FAVORITE FOOD: A New York Strip steak and fries.

FAVORITE MUSIC: Creed, Metallica and Pearl Jam.

FAVORITE MOVIE: Bull Durham

BEST GIFT: "I got an outdoor basketball hoop when I was 14," he said. "That was pretty big."

MOTIVATIONAL STYLE: "Depends on what we need," he said. "I go back and forth, but when we're not playing like we are capable of and the girls need a little kick in the rear, I can get on their cases a little bit."

FAVORITE OFFENSE: 3-2 Hi-Lo Motion

FAVORITE DEFENSE: Full court man-to-man pressure.

FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT: Outback Steakhouse

SOMETHING ABOUT HIM HIS PLAYERS DON'T KNOW: "They bought me a shirt this year for Christmas and I've worn it for every game we've played since. I think we've gone 9-2 since I've been wearing it. I don't think the girls have even noticed that I'm always wearing it now. It's kind of superstitious now. It's a gray Nike pullover. Sort of like a windbreaker thing."

FAVORITE TV SHOW: Lost

SECOND FAVORITE TV SHOW: Anything on ESPN.

TOUGHEST THINGS TO TEACH: "The hardest thing is getting them to appreciate the time they have in high school to play sports and how quick it is going to go by," he said.

ROAD BLOCKS

The area's two best teams have big hurdles in their way if they want to play for a state title. The boys of Glenn Hills (25-2) can envision a meeting with Jordan (26-1) at home in the second round of the Class AAA playoffs. The Red Jackets were ranked first or second by several state polls for most of the year.

Hephzibah's Lady Rebels (25-2) have their own mountainous opponents to contend with. The girls of the area's premier program would see Southwest Macon in the second round. The Patriots (22-3) have won 18 in a row. If Hephzibah gets past that foe, Kendrick (27-0) looms in the next round.

LEARN THE LANGUAGE

The players of this area have their own vocabulary when it comes to the game. Here's a few definitions.

BUST THE CLOCK: That's the term for when a team scores more than a 100 points in a single game. Just about every scoreboard at an area high school gym can only display two digits of scoring for each team.

BLOWOUT TICK: This is another scoreboard reference that describes garbage time. When a reserve gets on the court during the final moments of a game that's gotten out of hand, its referred to as blowout tick experience. The only playing time that said bench player sees are the ticks of the clock that come during blowouts.

BUCKETS: Burke County's Bears use this one a lot. It's another term for baskets. A player could intechange the phrase "five buckets" with a teammate to say he had 10 points. The team has been known to call out "bucket" for a shot that seems very likely to put points on the scoreboard.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Glenn Hills senior Jerel Stephenson described what it feels like to be a back-to-back region champion team his senior year.

"The second time is always better than the first. What we came from as far as 10th-graders and taking our bumps and bruises to going on to seniors and dominating the whole CSRA. It's been a wild ride, but a good ride. Those bumps and bruises have made these last two years so special."

QUOTE OF THE YEAR

"I've got friend girls but I don't have no girlfriends. Well, on the other hand I do have a girlfriend. Her name is Wilson. Like the basketball. Basketball is my girlfriend for now."

-- Laney junior Harold Doby on the love of his life these days

STAT OF THE MONTH

Strom Thurmond guard Courtney Mealing scored 42 of her team's 43 points in a first-round playoff loss to Manning this month.

LEADERBOARDS

BOYS

Keith Sterett of Alleluia Community School scored 62 points in an win against the home school CSRA Warriors on Feb. 11.

GIRLS

Strom Thurmond's Courtney Mealing poured in 46 points in a region game against Brookland-Casey.

-- Compiled by Jeff Sentell