GETTING AIR: Caitlyn Burgess soars over defenders to finish off a steal.

TIFTON — Tift County’s Lady Devils jumped to No. 2 Monday in MaxPreps’ Class 6A girls basketball rankings.

The Lady Devils, 18-3 on the year, jumped ahead of North Forsyth and Marist in the computerized rankings. North Forsyth is one of three teams to defeat Tift, doing so by a 48-47 score in December.

River Ridge (18-4) is No. 1 in 6A. North Forsyth, undefeated at 22-0, comes in at No. 3 with 19-1 Marist at No. 4. Rounding out the top five is Langston Hughes at 16-4.

Tift has a huge game Tuesday at Veterans, MaxPreps’ No. 6. The Lady Warhawks are 5-1 in Region 1-6A, their 57-46 loss in Tifton in January the only blemish to their conference record. Veterans has a seven-game winning streak since that contest.

Should the Lady Devils win, it would all but wrap up the regular season championship. This season, that means the region tournament would be at The Palace. After Veterans, Tift has games remaining against Northside, Lee County and Houston County,

The first time around the Lady Devils won by 40 over Lee, 51 against Northside and 64 over Houston.

Veterans is not the only big happening this week. Caitlyn Burgess is expected to score her 1,000th career point either Tuesday or Friday.

Tift’s rank is unchanged in the latest Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll, also released Monday. The Lady Devils are No. 6. Top five teams are River Ridge, North Forsyth, Marist, Langston Hughes and New Manchester.