Droughts broken to dynasties: Cool facts about the 112 basketball region champs

Five basketball teams won their first region titles this century last week, another won its 15th straight, one tied a state record with its 30th overall, 15 schools swept boys and girls titles and 68 of 112 teams repeated as champions from 2025.

Region tournaments, which finished Friday night, help determine qualifiers and seeds for the state tournament, which begins Tuesday.

This might be the final year they hold such power. Beginning with the 2026-27 academic year, the Georgia High School Association will seed bracket sports using a points-rating system. Region finish won’t matter much.

What won’t be lost is the in-the-moment thrill of winning a region championship game, especially one that’s historic.

Christian Heritage’s girls, winners of Region 7-A Division I, were the only first-time region champion. The Dalton school’s girls teams have reached three state quarterfinals, but Friday’s 56-53 victory over top-seeded Fannin County delivered the first region championship.

Those breaking droughts dating to the 20th century were Glascock County’s girls (1970), Fitzgerald’s boys (1988), Lassiter’s boys (1991), Bowdon’s boys (1994) and Wheeler County’s boys (1998).

Glascock County, one of the GHSA’s smallest high schools with 175 students, beat two higher seeds in Region 5-A Division II last week, including No. 1 Hancock Central 62-59 in overtime Friday.

“At one point we were down 17 and we kept chipping away and chipping away,” Glascock County coach Matt Otis said. “The girls just never stopped. It was incredible. Everybody had counted us out. We went in as the No. 3 and won three in a row in typically one of the strongest basketball regions.”

The region title was the first for any Glascock basketball team since the boys and girls swept Region 6-C in 1970 under a single coach, Joe Felton.

Winning their 30th region title last week was Lowndes’s girls. The Vikings’ victory in Region 1-6A tied Lowndes with Taylor County for the most girls region titles in history. Lowndes has won five straight region titles. The program’s first came in 1970.

Third all-time in girls region titles is Buford, which won its 29th last week. Buford plays in Region 8-6A.

East Hall’s boys won their 31st region title, in 8-3A. Only Perry, with 32, has more. Perry’s most recent came in 2015.

St. Francis’ girls won their 15th straight title, all under coach Aisha Kennedy, who has ridden the momentum of five of those to state championships. No other girls program has won more than 10 straight region titles.

The next-longest active streak belongs to Marist, with seven. North Forsyth’s eight-year streak ended Friday when beaten by South Forsyth in Region 6-6A.

Sandy Creek’s boys, the three-time defending Class 2A champion, won their ninth straight region title, tying East Hall (1982-90) for the longest streak of the past 75 years.

Grayson’s boys won their eighth straight. Greenforest Christian has won seven straight. Baldwin had won five straight until beaten by Cross Creek 53-51 in Region 4-2A on Friday.

Schools that won both boys and girls region titles were Bowdon, Bradwell Institute, Buford, Christian Heritage, Hebron Christian, Holy Innocents’, Hughes, Lowndes, Monroe, Morgan County, North Oconee, Sandy Creek, Vidalia, Washington-Wilkes and Woodward Academy.

Below are the 112 region champions — of which 68 (60.7%) are back-to-back champions. The list shows the number of titles for each team and the season of the most recent before 2026.

The region championship data used to mine the history and create this list comes from Becky Taylor, founder of the Georgia High School Basketball Project and sports information director at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

Boys

Class 6A

• Region 1: Lowndes - 5 (2025)
• Region 2: Westlake - 14 (2025)
• Region 3: McEachern - 17 (2025)
• Region 4: Grayson - 8 (2025)
• Region 5: Wheeler - 24 (2025)
• Region 6: Lambert - 6 (2025)
• Region 7: Meadowcreek - 4 (2019)
• Region 8: Buford - 24 (2025)

Class 5A

• Region 1: Bradwell Institute - 7 (2023)
• Region 2: Houston County - 3 (2019)
• Region 3: Hughes - 3 (2025)
• Region 4: Woodward Academy - 10 (2025)
• Region 5: Alexander - 5 (2025)
• Region 6: Lassiter - 2 (1991)
• Region 7: Gainesville - 24 (2025)
• Region 8: Winder-Barrow - 10 (2023)

Class 4A

• Region 1: Ware County - 4 (2001)
• Region 2: Eagle’s Landing Christian - 3 (2019)
• Region 3: Jonesboro - 10 (2025)
• Region 4: Pace Academy - 13 (2025)
• Region 5: St. Pius - 11 (2024)
• Region 6: Cambridge - 2 (2019)
• Region 7: Allatoona - 7 (2025)
• Region 8: North Oconee - 3 (2025)

Class 3A

• Region 1: Monroe - 12 (2025)
• Region 2: Sandy Creek - 12 (2025)
• Region 3: Calvary Day - 6 (2022)
• Region 4: Cross Creek - 5 (2024)
• Region 5: Cedar Grove - 10 (2025)
• Region 6: Greater Atlanta Christian - 21 (2025)
• Region 7: Calhoun - 17 (2025)
• Region 8: East Hall - 31 (2017)

Class 2A

• Region 1: Carver-Columbus - 16 (2025)
• Region 2: Morgan County - 11 (2025)
• Region 3: Crisp County - 3 (2019)
• Region 4: Butler - 3 (2025)
• Region 5: Holy Innocents’ - 5 (2025)
• Region 6: South Atlanta - 10 (2023)
• Region 7: North Cobb Christian - 7 (2025)
• Region 8: Hebron Christian - 2 (2025)

Class A Division I

• Region 1: Fitzgerald - 3 (1988)
• Region 2: Southwest - 15 (2025)
• Region 3: Vidalia - 13 (2022)
• Region 4: Greenforest Christian - 13 (2025)
• Region 5: Mount Vernon - 2 (2024)
• Region 6: Darlington - 5 (2023)
• Region 7: Christian Heritage - 4 (2025)
• Region 8: Rabun County - 6 (2025)

Class A Division II

• Region 1: Mitchell County - 6 (2024)
• Region 2: Clinch County - 15 (2025)
• Region 3: Portal - 12 (2024)
• Region 4: Wheeler County - 10 (1998)
• Region 5: Hancock Central - 11 (2025)
• Region 6: Chattahoochee County - 2 (2021)
• Region 7: Bowdon - 12 (1994)
• Region 8: Washington-Wilkes - 6 (2008)

Girls

Class 6A

• Region 1: Lowndes - 30 (2025)
• Region 2: Carrollton - 11 (2025)
• Region 3: Campbell - 8 (2024)
• Region 4: Archer - 2 (2017)
• Region 5: North Paulding - 2 (2024)
• Region 6: South Forsyth - 3 (2023)
• Region 7: Brookwood - 8 (2023)
• Region 8: Buford - 29 (2025)

Class 5A

• Region 1: Bradwell Institute - 11 (2025)
• Region 2: Coffee - 9 (2025)
• Region 3: Hughes - 7 (2025)
• Region 4: Woodward Academy - 15 (2025)
• Region 5: New Manchester - 2 (2021)
• Region 6: Sequoyah - 7 (2016)
• Region 7: Milton - 11 (2025)
• Region 8: Loganville - 5 (2021)

Class 4A

• Region 1: Warner Robins - 23 (2023)
• Region 2: Jones County - 13 (2025)
• Region 3: Harris County - 8 (2025)
• Region 4: Creekside - 3 (2025)
• Region 5: Marist - 13 (2025)
• Region 6: Kell - 7 (2025)
• Region 7: Dalton - 14 (2025)
• Region 8: North Oconee - 4 (2025)

Class 3A

• Region 1: Monroe - 12 (2025)
• Region 2: Sandy Creek - 8 (2023)
• Region 3: Jenkins - 3 (2025)
• Region 4: Baldwin - 20 (2025)
• Region 5: Luella - 6 (2025)
• Region 6: Pickens - 16 (2025)
• Region 7: Heritage-Ringgold - 4 (2025)
• Region 8: Cherokee Bluff - 2 (2025)

Class 2A