Early Analysis of Georgia HS GBB
Pictured: Hailee Swain. Photo Courtesy of Patrick Ammons.
In Georgia, High School Basketball is off and Running for 2024-2025
November 19, 2024
In many states high school girls’ basketball does not begin until the week of Thanksgiving or later. However, in Georgia, real games kicked off on Friday, November 8, 2024. Many schools wait until later in the month perhaps to lessen the effects with overlap from fall sports. One complaint surfacing this year is the lack of availability of players for practice due to flag football which became an official GHSA sport in 2020 and is growing by leaps and bounds.
Major difference for playoffs this year
1. The number of divisions in basketball has been reduced from seven to six.
This should make for greater competition for the state titles. Florida went from four divisions to nine over the years only to have embarrassing running clock games in the State Final Four. It reduced its divisions to seven (which may still be too many).
Sadly, with more sports than ever to choose from, participation in girls’ basketball has been down over the last decade with schools in some states struggling to fill out JV (let alone freshman) teams. The pool of available female athletes is just not as large as that of its male counterpart despite growth of available sporting opportunities. Also, elite athletes tend to focus on their specialty maybe playing one other sport and using the third season to work on this specialty (the rise in club basketball shows this).
2. Private schools in divisions 1, 2 and 3 will compete for a single title with the term All-private classification being used online to refer to this.
Previously, 1A private was separate with 2A and 3A private schools competing for the same state title as the public schools of similar enrollment. Given that private schools on the girls’ side have dominated these divisions, I applaud GHSA for making this move. Larger private schools (most notably Woodward Academy [5A] and Marist School [4A] which won state titles in recent years) still compete with the publics for post-season honors in divisions 4A, 5A and 6A.
The All-private classification looks like the toughest to win in terms of talent needed (at least this year)
In covering the national scene, I would rank winning the WCAC in Metro DC annually the toughest in terms of talent needed to win each year. I would put the California CIF Open Division second and Texas’s UIL 6A (recent developments in Texas may alter this going forward) third. For this year, I would put winning the new GHSA All-private classification up there in a similar high regard.
Nationally ranked Hebron Christian Academy (which won 3A last year) is the favorite starting a team of future NCAA Division 1 players and is heavy to seniors (helpful in winning a state title). Starting this season, they are a consensus pre-season #1 regardless of class in the state. Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School is led by USA National U17 point guard Hailee Swain (discussed below) along with a tall, talented but young (heavy to sophomores and freshmen) complement of players. Mount Paran Christian School won 2A last year and returns its star front line player Jessica Fields (discussed below). Saint Francis High School and The Galloway Schoolare young teams loaded with young multiple NCAA division 1 prospects and both should be better next year barring injuries and/or outbound transfers. Greenforest McCalep Christian Academy (known in local basketball circles as simply “Greenforest”) usually has division one talent originating from other countries) so it is hard to predict their success year to year but they should be included in this discussion.
Best of the public schools
To start the year, the nod would have to go to 5A River Ridge which has already posted wins over The Gallway School (mentioned above) and highly regarded 6A Carrollton High School. The team is heavy to upper-class players with at least three future division one players in its line-up. Of course, how a team finishes matters more!
Langston Hughes, another 5A contender, recently posted a big win versus Holy Innocents’ in spite of being banged up to start the season. When healthy they have size and guard play with multiple future division one players (one featured below).
Player-of-the-year race
There are candidates and then there are favorites. To win this kind of award generally team success is close to a prerequisite eliminating some really good players. Win a state title or advance your team farther than expected! On occasion, the player is so good the above is discounted. Last year Danielle Carnegie was one of several talented players, but she led Grayson team to a 7A title and garnered this accolade before heading off to Georgia Tech. If the race is close usually it goes to a senior. So, what about this year?
As the season starts, two candidates stand out as favorites. Hailee Swain (committed to Stanford out of Holy Innocents’) is ranked #9 in the class of 2025 by ESPN HoopGurlz. She has been the starting lead guard on the USA u16 and u17 teams each of the last two summers winning gold internationally. At 5-10, she has great poise and basketball IQ, ability to score at all three levels and attack going left (as she shoots) or right (as she writes). She can even make 5 to10 foot off-hand (her right) jumpers. This year she leads a young but very talented team with three other major division one prospects. Thus, the scoring load will not be just on her shoulders as she tries to take her team to the crown in the talent-rich All-private classification.
Kate Harpring out of Marist School is ranked second nationally in the class of 2026 by ESPN HoopGurlz. Since last season when she led Marist to the Georgia 6A title (seven classes then), Harpring was a late cut for the U17 team that Swain made. However, at the prestigious Overtime Select (see link to article), Harpring went from unheralded bench reserve to event MVP while Swain’s team was eliminated before the semi-final round. On the court their teams never met. Harpring will try to lead her team to a second state title (this time in 4A). At 5-10, Harpring is a prolific scorer posting 45 in last year’s 6A semi’s. Like Swain, she can score at all three levels and attack left or right. She possesses above average court vision unusual for a big-time scorer. Like Swain, Harpring is an above average defender. Unlike Swain, her team (also young in key spots) has players more in the initial learning phase so nightly there is a greater burden on her to score in volume.
Kate Harpring at Overtime Select. Photo Courtesy of Overtime.
There are other candidates…
Jessica Fields (committed to the University of Michigan) helped her Mount Paran Christian team to the Georgia 2A title last year. She is listed at #99 by HoopGurlz for the class of 2025. At 6-1, Field was known as a low post scorer for the earlier portion of her high school career, but she has added ball handling ability to allow her to play both a power forward and center’s role as needed this season.
Jessica Fields of Mount Paran.
A University of Georgia commit, Jocelyn Faison transferred this year into Langston Hughes High School in Fairburn, Georgia, making a good team (multiple D1 prospects already there) a strong contender for the 5A title. At 6-1, Faison is a long athletic lefty whom one opposing coach aptly described as “smooth” in attacking the basket. If Faison leads her team to the 5A title, she certainly has to be in state player-of-the-year conversations.
Our final candidate is more like a team of them. Very often in states where there is no clear-cut candidate elsewhere, the best player on the best team winning a state title gets the nod. This could well be Hebron Christian with four division one signees (Aubrey Beckham to Georgia; Ja’kerra Butler to Auburn; M. J. James to George Washington; Danielle Osho to Miami) and junior Gabby Minus ranked #34 in the class of 2026 by HoopGurlz.