Only 17 berths in the Class AAAAAA basketball tournament remain up for grabs after two days of play in the region tournaments.
Thirteen boys teams and 13 girls teams had byes into the region semifinals and were guaranteed spots in the state playoffs, and 21 more teams earned their way in with victories Monday or Tuesday. That leaves just 17 spots – 11 in the boys bracket and six for the girls – which will be determined by Wednesday’s games.
The boys and girls region tournaments have gone according to form so far. The higher-seeded boys teams are 13-2, and the higher-seeded girls teams are 18-2.
Pope pulled off the biggest upset on the girls’ side. The Greyhounds, seeded fifth in the Region 7 tournament, knocked off fourth-seeded and 10th-ranked Johns Creek 55-54 on Tuesday. Esther Polk made a 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining to give Pope the lead and then drew a charge with two seconds left to secure the victory. Pope had lost to Johns Creek, the region tournament host, twice by six points each during the regular season.
In Region 1, the fifth-seeded Coffee girls beat No. 4 seed Lee County 53-50.
Alcovy is the lowest-seeded boys team to earn its way into the state tournament. The Tigers, seeded No. 6 in Region 3, upset third-seeded and tournament host Evans 59-53 Tuesday afternoon. Evans won both regular-season meetings by a combined 19 points.
The other upset in the boys brackets came in Region 8, where fifth-seeded Winder-Barrow eliminated No. 4 seed Apalachee 71-60 in overtime.
Listed below are the teams that have secured spots in the state tournament. The ones marked with an asterisk had byes into the semifinals and will begin play later in the week. This list will be updated as the week goes on, with the final seeding numbers added as they become available.
Region 1
Boys: *Coffee, *Valdosta, *Northside-Warner Robins, Lee County
Girls: *Northside-Warner Robins, *Valdosta, *Houston County, Coffee
Region 2
Boys: *Richmond Hill, *Glynn Academy, *Brunswick, Effingham County
Girls: *Brunswick, *Glynn Academy, *Bradwell Institute, Richmond Hill
Region 3
Boys: *Lakeside-Evans, *Heritage-Conyers, Greenbrier, Alcovy
Girls: *Grovetown, *Greenbrier, Heritage-Conyers, Evans
Region 4
Boys: Stephenson, Tucker
Girls: Tucker, Stephenson
Region 5
Boys: *South Paulding
Girls: *Douglas County, Mays, New Manchester, South Paulding
Region 6
Boys: *Allatoona, *South Cobb
Girls: *Harrison, *Creekview
Region 7
Boys: None
Girls: Northview, Chattahoochee, Alpharetta, Pope
Region 8
Boys: *Gainesville, *Dacula, Lanier, Winder-Barrow
Girls: *Winder-Barrow, *Gainesville
