VALDOSTA — Eight local area teams will compete for high school basketball state championships in the coming weeks and more could be added to the field today.

Between the Georgia High School Association’s Class AAAAAA and Class AA state brackets and the Georgia Independent School Association’s Class AA and Class A brackets, The Valdosta Daily Times has eight schools within its coverage area competing in the state playoffs.

More could be added today when the GHSA Class A brackets are expected to be released.

The playoff action begins state-wide tonight, with the playing of the GHSA girls’ first round games.

Locally, the Valdosta girls and Cook girls will both be on the floor tonight. The first round matchups continue Wednesday and Thursday for local area teams.

The second round begins Friday and continues through Saturday for both GHSA and GISA schools.

The Valdosta girls will host Hillgrove tonight at 5 p.m. in the first round of the GHSA Class 6A state playoffs, while the Cook Lady Hornets will visit Bleckley County in the Class AA tournament.

The Valdosta boys visit Hillgrove in the first round on Wednesday, while the Cook boys will visit Taylor County.

The GISA Region 3-AA champion Valwood Valiants face Covenant at Windsor Academy in Macon on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. and will face either Memorial Day or Arlington Christian in the second round on Saturday at Middle Georgia College. That game will begin at 2:30 p.m.

The GISA Class AA state semifinals will be held at Mercer University in Macon on March 1, with the championship game being held March 2, also at Mercer.

In GISA Class A action, the Georgia Christian girls will face Thomas Jefferson Wednesday at 4 p.m. on the campus of Abraham-Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton. The Region 3-A champion Georgia Christian boys will face Bethleham Christian Thursday night at 8:30 p.m., also at ABAC.

The Highland Christian girls, who finished fourth in Region 3-A, will face Region 1 champion Curtis Baptist Wednesday night at 7 p.m. on the ABAC campus in Tifton.

If victorious in the first round, the Georgia Christian girls will face either Oak Mountain or Twiggs Friday night at 5:30 on the ABAC campus. Highland Christian would face either Dawson Street or David Emanuel Friday at 4 p.m, also in Tifton.

The Georgia Christian boys will face either David Emanuel or Solid Rock, pending a victory Thursday, on Saturday in the second round. The game will be held in Tifton.

All GISA Class A state semifinals and championship games will be held at Mercer in Macon on March 1-2.

The GHSA Class A state basketball playoff brackets have not yet been released, but are expecte to be today.

 In the latest power rankings, released last week and conducted by MaxPreps and the GHSA, Lanier County was ranked No. 21 in the boys’ rankings and Clinch County was No. 23. Echols County, which won a single game all season, was ranked No. 41 on the boys’ side.

In the Class A girls’ rankings, Clinch County (13-6) was ranked No. 11 and Echols County (11-12) was ranked No. 18. Lanier County (3-18) was ranked No. 38 out of the 45 schools.

The top 16 teams in Class A qualify for the playoffs, which, for Class A, begin Friday and Saturday.

The Class A girls’ semifinals will be held March 1 at Fort Valley State, with the championship games being played March 7 inside the Macon Centreplex. The boys’ semifinals will be held at Kennesaw State University and the finals will also be held March 7 in Macon.

If victorious in the first round, the Valdosta girls will face either Alcovy (the No. 1 seed from Region 2) or East Coweta (the No. 4 seed from Region 3). That game will be held either Friday or Saturday night at the higher-seeded school.

The Valdosta boys would face either Tri Cities (the No. 1 seed from Region 3) or Luella (the No. 4 seed from Region 2) in the second round Saturday night.

The Class 6A state semifinals will be held on campus at Georgia Tech in Atlanta March 2, with the finals being played inside Macon’s Centreplex March 9.

If victorious in the first round, the Cook girls will face either Dublin or Vidalia on the road, while the Cook would face either Laney or Benedictine on the road in the second round.

The GHSA Class AA state semifinals will be held at Georgia College and State University March 1, with the championship games being played in Macon March 8.