Hall County basketball programs have put up some of the more impressive showings in the Region 7-AAA tournament. With the exception of the Creekview girls, the remaining seven programs still playing for region titles are all Hall County schools.

Both the East Hall boys and girls are still standing, along with the Flowery Branch girls, Gainesville girls, North Hall boys, West Hall boys and Johnson boys are all still alive heading into today’s semifinals at Flowery Branch High.

All eight of these programs have already qualified for the Class AAA state playoffs, and are now playing for postseason seeding.
Today’s semifinal matchups on the girls’ side feature East Hall against Creekview at 4 p.m., followed by the Flowery Branch girls vs. Gainesville at 7 p.m.

Boys semifinals matchups are West Hall boys against Johnson at 5:30 p.m., followed by the North Hall boys against East Hall at 8:30 p.m.

The winners of the semifinal games are assured a first round home playoff game. Region championship games in 7-AAA are scheduled for 7 and 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Flowery Branch.

Meanwhile, the Buford girls, the 2009 state champions in Class AA, will play Greater Atlanta Christian for the Region 6-AA title at 7 p.m. tonight in Lilburn. This game is a matchup of state ranked teams that split the season series during the regular season.

In Region 8-AA, Riverside Military faces Dawson County at 5:30 today in the semifinals at East Jackson High. The Lakeview Academy boys face Social Circle in the third place game of the Region 8-A tournament at 5:30 today at Towns County High.

The Lions already secured a playoff berth with a win against Towns County last Thursday in the tournament quarterfinals at Athens Academy.

SPRING SPORTS: High school baseball, golf, soccer and tennis get started full force this week. In baseball, Region 7-AAA programs play non-region games for the first couple weeks of the season before jumping into the region schedule.

Meanwhile, the other sports jump right into the region schedule during this early stretch in the schedule.

ATLANTA HAWKS: Despite a mediocre month, the Hawks (34-20) are still within range of catching the Orlando Magic for first place in the Southeast Division. After losing to the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, the Hawks turns around and visit the Utah Jazz tonight.

Atlanta plays host to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday before rounding out the week with a home game against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday.

ATLANTA BRAVES: Spring training kicks off in earnest this week with position players reporting to the team’s temporary home at the Disney Wide World of Sports complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Pitchers and catchers were the first to report to the team’s camp last Friday. The deadline for players to report is March 2.

Atlanta’s first spring training games are a home and away against the New York Mets on March 2-3. The Braves have 30 spring training games, some of which are split squad games.