The Hamilton Heights Lady Hawks will make their second straight appearance in the Geico High School National basketball tournament in New York City starting on March 30 with the girls' semifinals. The Lady Hawks finished second in 2017.
photo by Contributed
The GEICO High School Basketball Nationals (formerly DICK’S Nationals) returns to New York City for the fifth consecutive year, and 10th season overall. Featuring the best high school basketball talent in the country, this year’s pool will include seven total state champions.
In the girls’ field, three teams won their respective state championships, including Westlake (Ga.), Central Valley (Wash.) and Winter Haven (Fla.), while independent Hamilton Heights Christian Academy (Tenn.) rounds out the four team field.
The three-day, single-elimination tournament begins Thursday, March 29, at noon ET with the boys quarterfinals on ESPNU, and continues on Friday, March 30, with the girls semifinals (11 a.m.
& 1 p.m., ESPNU) and boys semifinals (3 p.m. & 5 p.m., ESPN2).
In the boys’ field, seven of the top eleven ranked teams in the nation will participate, including the top four. The independent schools invited are all past winners and include Montverde Academy (Fla.), Oak Hill (Va.), Findlay Prep (Nev.), and 2017 champion La Lumiere (Ind.).
The other four boys teams in the field all won their respective state championships and include University School (Fla.), Shadow Mountain (Ariz.), Garfield (Wash.) and Lone Peak (Utah).
The tournament culminates on Saturday, March 31, with the girls’ championship (10 a.m.,ESPN2) and the boys’ championship game (noon, ESPN).
Six McDonald’s All-American representatives will participate in the tournament, including: R.J. Barrett (Montverde), David McCormack (Oak Hill), Bol Bol (Findlay Prep), and Keldon Johnson (Oak Hill) for the boys; Jazmine Massengill and Elizabeth Balogun of Hamilton Heights for the girls.
To be eligible for the tournament, participating schools must be a four-year high school, independent or public, and have their respective governing body’s permission to participate. Tournament teams are chosen by a selection committee.
A breakdown of the four girls' teams:
2018 GEICO High School Basketball Nationals Participating Girls Teams Team rankings per espnW 25 Power Rankings; Player rankings per espnW HoopGurlz Top 100 (Class of 2018), Super 60 (Class of 2019) and Terrific 25 (Class of 2020)
School (State) 2017-2018 Record
No. 2 Hamilton Heights Christian Academy (Tenn.) 24-2
No. 14 Westlake High School (Ga.) 30-1
No. 17 Central Valley HS (Wash.) 27-0
No. 20 Winter Haven HS (Fla.) 32-1
Team capsules:
Hamilton Heights Christian Academy (Tenn.)
Tournament History: Second appearance
Coach: Keisha Hunt
Ranked Players: No. 25 Sr. Elizabeth Balogun; No. 26 Jr. Jazmine Massengill; No. 3 Soph. Kamilla Cordosa; No. 10 Soph. Treasure Hunt
Notes: The first appearance for Hamilton Heights Christian in this tournament ended with a tough loss to Miami Country Day in the finals last year. They return four nationally ranked players who competed on that team last year, including seniors Elizabeth Balogun and Jazmine Massengill who are committed to Georgia Tech and Tennessee respectively. Key wins this season came against nationally ranked teams Riverdale Baptist (Md.) and Paul VI (Va.) The Lady Hawks hope their talent and experience take them one-step closer to a GEICO Nationals Championship.
Westlake High School (Ga.)
Tournament History: First appearance
Coach: Hilda Hankerson
Notes: This is the first state championship for Hilda Hankerson, who has been the Head Coach at Westlake for over twenty years. Over fifty of her former players have received college scholarships from schools including Georgia, Clemson and Southern Mississippi. The Lions were undefeated in the state of Georgia, their only loss coming to nationally ranked Mercer County from Kentucky. After winning the GHSA 7A title, the Lions enter GEICO Nationals with a top 15 national ranking.
Central Valley High School (Wash.)
Tournament History: First appearance
Coach: Freddie Rehkow
Ranked Players: No. 16 Sr. Lexie Hull
Notes: Central Valley’s average margin of victory this season was 44 points. They went undefeated on the way to their second WIAA 4A state title in three seasons. Seniors Lexie and Lacie Hull are both Stanford commits, and the identical twins have led the Bears to a record of 100-6 during their high school careers, losing only one game the past three seasons, they are 81-1 since 2016.
Winter Haven High School (Fla.)
Tournament History: First appearance
Coach: Johnnie Lawson
Ranked Players: No. 99 Sr. Diamond Battles
Notes: Coach Lawson has been at Winter Haven 20 years (10 as Head Coach and ten as Assistant Coach). The program has won twenty district championships, and five state championships, all of those coming within the last fifteen years. Former players have gone on to play for UConn, Kentucky, Indiana and Miami to name a few. The Blue Devils lost only one game on the way to the FHSAA 8A state championship.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)