GHSA Tournament of Champions: No. 4 Holy Innocents’ vs. No. 5 GAC

There are a lot of items on GHSA basketball fans’ wish lists. One that we may never see is a tournament of champions. All eight classification champs grouped together and seeded or even paired at random to set up a bracket to determine the overall champion of the state. With no basketball being played currently, why not breakdown some hypothetical matchups in this new series and let the fan vote determine who will advance to the next round? We will provide a preview, a thoughtful prediction and let you – the fans – decide the fate of each game. <hr /> <h3><strong>No. 4 <span style="font-size: 12pt">A-Private</span>Holy Innocents’ (26-5) vs. No. 5 <span style="font-size: 12pt">3A</span>GAC (20-12)</strong></h3> GAC, a nine-time state champion, ended their 13-year drought by holding off Beach 54-44 to win the Class 3A Championship.  Holy Innocents’ won their fourth title and second consecutive in Class A-Private beating St. Francis 66-53. Back on November 21, Holy Innocents held off the feisty Spartans 60-54. To no surprise, blue-chip 6-foot-5 forward [player_tooltip player_id="118096" first="Jillian" last="Hollingshead"] dominated with 28 points and 3 blocks. For the guard-oriented Spartans to knock off the Golden Bears, they will have to find a way to slow down Hollingshead. Rebounding specialist Molly Pritchard didn’t play for the Spartans in their first meeting and will give Coach Jessica Guarneri a sturdy presence inside. The 6-foot sophomore averaged 10.4 rebounds per game. 6-foot-3 junior Laurren Randolph isn’t much of a scoring threat either, but she is long and can help alter shots inside. She averaged 5.8 points and 6.1 rebounds. Holy Innocents’ isn’t just a one-man team however. While Hollingshead was held to 11 points and 14 rebounds in the state championship, [player_tooltip player_id="152594" first="Rachel" last="Suttle"] stepped up with 19 points and 9 rebounds while Loyola New Orleans-commit [player_tooltip player_id="156782" first="Jada" last="Farrell"] netted a game-high 21 points.  Both Suttle and Farrell provide physical inside-out scoring abilities that can pull GAC’s forwards away from the basket to space the floor and cause mismatches. The return of Cierra Foster is crucial for Holy Innocents’ backcourt as she joins Naja Reeves. They will be tasked with chasing star sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="118145" first="Kaleigh" last="Addie"]. The 5-foot-7 point guard took over down the stretch against Beach, dropping in a game-high 28 points to go with her 5 rebounds. Her playmaking draws the attention of all five defenders on the floor. Jaci Bolden (11.8 ppg) and Ava Irvin (9.9 ppg) will need to be on in support of Addie. Addie had 15 points on 6-17 shooting in their first meeting while Irvin scored 11 points and Bolden had 9. 6-foot freshman [player_tooltip player_id="154592" first="Olivia" last="Hutcherson"] could be an X-Factor for Holy Innocents’. She had 7 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks in their first meeting. Her activity and length inside can help negate any drives by Addie. Line: Holy Innocents -10 <em>Vote below to decide who advances to the next round of the GHSA Tournament of Champions Voting ends on 4/10</em> https://poll.fm/10532229