The Griffin Lady Bears basketball team will have its collective hands full if it wants to advance to the Region 4-AAAA Tournament finals — it merely has to go through the second-best team in the entire region to get there.

Div. B No. 3 seed Griffin (12-13) will face the Jonesboro Lady Cardinals (22-4), the Div. B No. 1 seed, today at 4 p.m. in the region tourney semifinals held at Woodland High School in Stockbridge. While Griffin reached the semis by rallying for a 46-45 win over Dutchtown Tuesday, Jonesboro easily dispatched Upson-Lee Tuesday to reach the semis.

The winner of today’s game advances to the tournament finals on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Woodland while the loser plays in the third-place game Saturday at 3 p.m. The eventual region champion and runner-up clinch the top 2 seeds in state and host their first-round state-playoff games — the third and fourth place teams have to hit the road for their state-playoff matchups.

“All I know is that we are guaranteed to have three more basketball games. If we want more than that, we’re going to have to really play well,” said Lady Bears head coach Veronica Lee.

The first order of business is to get past Jonesboro this afternoon, which won’t be an easy task. The Lady Cards swept Griffin in the regular season, including a 60-34 beatdown at The House on Jan. 22.

“That last Jonesboro game got out of hand quickly. We can’t let that happen again. We have to execute better on offense and defense and fight them hard for all four quarters,” Lee said. “We also have to contain their post players, Kimberly Dawkins and Michaelle Smith, and keep them off the boards. If we keep the game close, I like our chances.”

Even though Griffin doesn’t have much height, it did a good job of keeping the 6-foot-2 Dawkins, a senior, in check during the regular season. It was Smith, a sophomore, who torched the Lady Bears by using her strength and quickness to get to all the loose balls and snatch several rebounds.

“Smith is very strong and she will get to the ball,” Lee said. “We’ve got to defend her, for sure.”

Lady Bears point guard Shacoria Jones twisted her ankle late in the Dutchtown game, but she was walking with an ice pack on it during practice Thursday afternoon. She will definitely be a game-time decision.

Lee is excited for her players to finally clinch a state berth after an 11-year drought. She said it definitely helps her younger players.

“I’m glad for the girls to make history here at Griffin. It’s good that my younger players can get their feet wet at state and treasure this experience so they’ll be ready to do it again and again,” said Lee.

GRIFFIN HIGH GIRLS

Date |Opponent |Time/Score

11/19 |vs. Lowndes |L 45-39

11/20 |vs. Valdosta |L 64-29

11/27 |WOODLAND* |L 46-35

12/4 |Stockbridge* |W 49-32

12/7 |DUTCHTOWN* |W 46-44

12/8 |HENRY CO. |L 47-45

12/11 |L. GROVE* |L 48-43

12/14 |E. Landing* |W 57-46

12/15 |LAMAR |W 60-49

12/18 |Lamar |W 61-53 OT

12/21 |vs. Pike Co. |L 53-34

12/22 |vs. Upson-Lee |W 43-39

1/4 |Jonesboro* |L 46-39

1/5 |Dutchtown |L 48-40

1/8 |Upson-Lee* |L 1-0 FFT

1/11 |SPALDING* |W 49-46

1/15 |Riverdale* |W 52-42

1/18 |N. Clayton* |W 51-47

1/19 |NORTHSIDE-WR |L 42-32

1/22 |JONESBORO* |L 60-34

1/25 |UPSON-LEE* |W 41-32

1/26 |Spalding* |L 57-48

2/1 |RIVERDALE* |L 39-38

2/5 |N. CLAYTON* |W 63-57

****REGION TOURNAMENT****

2/12 |vs. Dutchtown |W 46-45

2/15 |vs. Jonesboro |4:00