The Statesboro Lady Blue Deil basketball team will be looking to advance to the state Class AAAAA quarterfinals for the first time since 2011 as they host Veterans Friday night in the state sweet 16 Wednesday at 6:00

The Blue Devils are coming off a fairly lackluster effort in dispatching McIntosh 51-39 in the opening round of the state. Lacy Robins stood out with 21 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 7 steals and 6 blocked shots. The problem was the only other player to have much of an impact was Baylee Roberts with 11 points.

“The game now is to survive and advance,” said Statesboro coach Jeff Seier. “We worked on some of the things that we struggled with on Friday, and I hope we come in a little more focused. We are still such a young team focus can be an issue sometimes.”

The Blue Devils may lack playoff experience, but they do have a couple of things in their favor this week, first of all coach Seier has plenty of depth. Seven Blue Devil players average over five points per game. The other advantage Statesboro has is they are 13-1 at home this season, and have fed off their home crowd.

“We are on winter break, and at home,” Seier said. “I believe the girls will be well rested as they can sleep in this week. We also have the advantage of playing before our home crowd. Our team has gone on big runs a lot this year fueled by our home crowd.”

Statesboro comes in with a record of 25-3 and have spent the majority of the season ranked among the top teams in 5-A. Veterans comes in with a record of 24-4, and lost only one region game all season, but lost in the region championship to Harris County by 18 points.

 The Warhawks snuck past Locust Grove 68-56 in the opening round of the state playoffs.

“They have the ability to get points from all five starters,” Seier said. “Their go to player is their center, but they have pretty good depth and we can’t just play to shut down one player.”

The Warhawks are led offensively by 6-foot center Stacie Jones who averages 14.8 points per game and 12.4 rebounds per contest. Fellow junior 5’7’’ point guard Tamia Luckey averages 12.6 points per game.

“Jones is a very athletic post player,” Seier said. “She will probably be named as a first team all state selection. A lot of times you get a six foot big slow player, but she can run the floor and actually handles the ball pretty well.”

The Blue Devils and Warhawks are scheduled to get things underway Wednesday night at 6:00 at Statesboro High.