The Hebron Lions played in a state tournament game for the first time in seven years tonight and came away with a 77-43 win over Christian Heritage in a second round matchup. Hebron’s nine-day layoff was evident as the teams were tied at 9-9 midway through the first quarter. Two free throws by Nicole Azar and back to back threes by Ella Heard gave Hebron some breathing room opening an eight-point lead. After that 9-9 score, Hebron outscored Christian Heritage 32-9 taking a 41-18 lead into halftime. Game over. Malia Fisher had a big night with a double-double performance scoring 20 points while grabbing 12 rebounds, both team highs. She also had a team high eight assists to go with two blocked shots and a steal. Azar had 16 points, four rebounds and four assists for the Lions while Heard had 12 points and five assists. Jessie Parish put up 10 points and seven boards while Carly Fahey added nine points and five assists. Carly Heidger added six points and five rebounds for Hebron who advances to the quarterfinals of the state tournament for the first time since 2007. With the win, the Lions remain undefeated at 29-0. Christian Heritage ends its season with a 18-7 record. Not only did the Lions advance in the state tournament but the win gave Coach Jan Azar career win No. 600. Azar, who has a career record of 600-113, was showered with balloons, a bouquet of flowers and a commemorative game ball signed by all of her players. In attendance were many of her former players from Wesleyan as well as parents of her former players. After the game, the Hebron administration did such a nice job announcing her career accomplishments and Hebron moms put together an after-game celebration which included cupcakes. They also organized a 15-minute long video that included clips from many of Coach Azar’s former players, coaches and parents spanning back to her very first Wesleyan squad in 1997-98. Special thanks to Mrs. Fahey, Mrs. Heidger, Mrs. Parish and Athletic Director Taylor Davis, for doing such a great job organizing everything. It was a truly unprecedented display of acknowledgment and appreciation. Coach Azar enjoyed the festivities and is grateful to all involved. Hebron will next face Greenforest Christian (22-5) in the quarterfinals. Greenforest defeated Lakeview 69-57 in its second round game. The Hebron/Greenforest game will take place at Hebron next Tuesday. Game time to be determined.

Click blue link for updated state tournament brackets

The Region 8-A awards were released recently and Hebron was well represented. Junior Malia Fisher was named Region Player of the Year while fellow junior Nicole Azar earned First Team All Region honors. Juniors Carly Heidger, Ella Heard and Carly Fahey, and sophomore Jessie Parish were all named Honorable Mention. Congratulations to all six Lady Lions on their much deserved awards.

The Georgia High School Association released the state tournament brackets for all seven classifications earlier today as well as the split public/private Class A tournaments. Hebron was given the No. 3 seed for the 1A private school tournament. Unlike the tournaments for Class 2A – 7A which are 32-team formats taking the top four finishers from each of the eight regions in the classification, Class A does it differently. Due to the GHSA splitting public and private schools into two separate, independent tournaments, Class A’s public and private tournaments consist of 24 teams in each tournament. The seeding is based on a number of different factors… winning region, wins and losses, strength of schedule, and other factors that require an actuarial science degree to decipher. The top eight seeds receive a first round bye. so the Lions won’t take to the court until Wednesday or Thursday of next week. Hebron will play the winner of Christian Heritage/Athens Academy in second round. The list of seeds is below. Click the link to view the tournament brackets for the Class A Private School tournament.

1. St. Francis
2. Holy Innocents
3. Hebron
4. Stratford
5. Wesleyan
6. Greenforest
7. Calvary Day
8. Mt. Paran
9. Darlington
10. Eagle’s Landing Christian
11. Lakeview
12. Trinity Christian
13. Savannah Country Day
14. Christian Heritage
15. Galloway
16. Tallulah Falls
17. Paideia
18. Savannah Christian
19. Athens Academy
20. Brookstone
21. Prince Avenue
22. Mt. Pisgah
23. Aquinas
24. Our Lady of Mercy

Hebron ended Lakeview Academy’s stranglehold on Region 8-A with an 81-45 thrashing in the 8-A tournament championship game Monday night at Commerce. The Lions dominated from the outset quickly building a double digit lead. Hebron led 25-9 at the end of the first quarter, 46-21 at halftime and 77-32 at the end of the third quarter. Once the lead got to double digits, Lakeview never threatened and Hebron secured its first region championship since 2007. Hebron did a nice job defensively on Lakeview’s Eliza Snyder, a Mercer commit, holding her to seven points. Hebron had four players score in double figures led by Nicole Azar who poured in a career high 41 points including 10 three pointers. She also dished five assists. Malia Fisher had a double double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Carly Fahey led the team in assists with 10 to go with five points. Carly Heidger added 12 points while Jessie Parish had six points and eight boards for the Lions. Hebron is now 28-0 on the season and will have a first round bye in the upcoming Class A State Tournament. Lakeview falls to 21-7 and has also qualified for the state tournament. Who Hebron will play next is unknown at this time. The tournament brackets should be released by the GHSA tomorrow or Wednesday. I link to the brackets will be posted to this site shortly thereafter.
CLICK BELOW FOR REGION TOURNAMENT BRACKETS

Hebron juniors Malia Fisher and Nicole Azar were both named to the All Metro High School Girls Late Season Team which was released recently by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. Click the below link to the Atlanta Tipoff Club website to view the entire list. Congrats Malia and Nicole!

http://www.atltipoffclub.com/2019-2020-atlanta-all-metro-high-school-girls-late-season-team/