The final 17 berths in the upcoming Class AAAAAA boys and girls basketball tournaments were claimed Wednesday when seven boys teams and 10 girls teams won elimination games in the quarterfinal round of the region tournaments.
Taking the final spots in the boys tournament were Drew and Jonesboro from Region 4, Alexander, Douglas County and Tri-Cities from Region 5, and Allatoona and Sprayberry from Region 6.
The final girls berths went to Lovejoy and Stephenson from Region 4, Alexander, New Manchester and South Paulding from Region 5, River Ridge and Sequoyah from Region 6, and Alpharetta, Johns Creek and Pope from Region 7.
The state tournament begins Feb. 16-17.
The girls from M.L. King were the only team, boys or girls, seeded lower than fifth in their region tournament to advance to the state playoffs. The seventh-seeded Lions earned their berth with a 37-36 upset of fourth-ranked Forest Park in the Region 4 tournament on Tuesday. Forest Park, which finished the season 21-5, was the only ranked girls team in any classification that failed to advance to the state tournament.
All 10 ranked boys teams in Class AAAAAA advanced to state.
Only one region has played its semifinal round. That was Region 2, where the boys from Richmond Hill and Brunswick and the girls from Bradwell Institute and Glynn Academy reached the championship games. Glynn Academy’s girls beat regular-season champion Brunswick 53-46 in the biggest upset in Wednesday’s games.
The other seven regions will play their semifinals on Thursday or Friday, with the consolation and championship games on Friday or Saturday.
Listed below are the teams that secured spots in the state tournament. The ones marked with an asterisk had byes into the semifinals. This list will be updated as the week goes on to include their final seeding for the state playoffs as those numbers become available.
Region 1
Boys: *Coffee, *Valdosta, *Lee County, Northside-Warner Robins
Girls: *Coffee, *Valdosta, *Northside-Warner Robins, Houston County
Region 2
Boys: *Brunswick, *Bradwell Institute, *Richmond Hill, Effingham County
Girls: *Brunswick, *Bradwell Institute, *Richmond Hill, Glynn Academy
Region 3
Boys: *Heritage-Conyers, *Lakeside-Evans, Grovetown, Evans
Girls: *Heritage-Conyers, *Grovetown, Greenbrier, Lakeside-Evans
Region 4
Boys: Jonesboro, Stephenson, Tucker, Drew
Girls: Lovejoy, Tucker, Stephenson, M.L. King
Region 5
Boys: *Hughes, Douglas County, Alexander, Tri-Cities
Girls: *Douglas County , Alexander, New Manchester, South Paulding
Region 6
Boys: *Creekview, *South Cobb, Allatoona, Sprayberry
Girls: *Harrison, *Creekview, River Ridge, Sequoyah
Region 7
Boys: *Cambridge, North Atlanta, Pope, Alpharetta
Girls: *Northview, Alpharetta, Pope, Johns Creek
Region 8
Boys: *Gainesville, *Dacula, Lanier, Apalachee
Girls: *Winder-Barrow, *Lanier, Dacula, Gainesville
About the Author
