It is almost safe to assume if the boys’ basketball team is heading to the state playoffs then the girls’ squad will be there as well in Clayton County.

During this opening weekend of the 2011-12 postseason, the Jonesboro Cardinals, Lady Cardinals, Forest Park Panthers, Lady Panthers, Drew Titans, Lady Titans, Lovejoy Wildcats and Lady Wildcats will all begin their quest to bring their respective school a state championship.

After a 55-45 overtime win against Forest Park in the Region 4-AAAA championship game last Friday, the Lady Cardinals (22-5) are the hottest team with 10 straight wins.

Junior Victoria Florence scored 14 of her 21 points in the second quarter for the Lady Cardinals, who rallied from a 12-0 first quarter deficit and held the Lady Panthers scoreless in overtime.

“I’m very proud of the finish by the girls,” Jonesboro girls’ coach Michael House said. “They stuck together, played very hard and played smart together to finish out the regular season and region tournament.

“We did a great job game by game going out there and executing the things we worked on all year to finish strong,” House said.

This Friday, the Lady Cardinals will host Woodland-Henry (21-9).

“I think big things are accomplished through the perfection of minor detail,” House said. “We are going to go back and work on those small little details and put it all together so we can take it one game at a time.”

Meanwhile, the Cardinals (23-4) will still host Griffin (10-17) in the first round despite having their 15-game winning streak snapped in the region title game by North Clayton last Friday.

As a result, the Eagles (17-10) earned the region’s No. 1 seed and will host Dutchtown (15-14) on Saturday.

Also in Class AAAA and on the same day, Forest Park will visit Alcovy (25-3). The Lady Panthers (21-6), who advanced to the title game last year, will host McIntosh (21-7) in a rematch of last season’s Sweet 16 contest.

On Friday, Lovejoy (22-5) will visit Fayette County (25-2) after the Lady Wildcats (14-10) face the Lady Tigers (23-5) in the first game of the doubleheader.

The Wildcats have lost all seven of their meetings with Fayette County, including a 64-44 decision in last year’s tournament. Meanwhile, the Lady Wildcats have lost three straight to the Lady Tigers.

Also in Class AAAA, the Mundy’s Mill Lady Tigers (21-6) will visit Alcovy (24-4) this weekend.