Kell, Sprayberry Win Region Basketball

For the first time in 23 years, the Sprayberry High School boys basketball team has won a region championship.

A steal and a layup from Torrey Richardson in the final five seconds of the game lifted the Yellow Jackets to a 58-56 win over Creekview Saturday in the finals of the Region 7-AAAAA tournament at Sprayberry.

The Jackets, who are now 19-9 on the season, will play host to Tucker Wednesday in the first round of the Georgia High School Association state tournament.

More on Saturday's game from The Marietta Daily Journal.

The Kell High School girls team, as expected, won the Region 7-AAAAA title, downing Osborne 53-44 to improve to 22-2 on the season. The Lady Longhorns, region champions for the first time in school history, will open state play Tuesday at home against Stephenson.

Here's the rest of the schedule for other Northeast Cobb-area teams that also have qualified:

• Sprayberry girls at Southwest DeKalb, Tuesday;
• Pope girls at Miller Grove, Tuesday;
• Wheeler girls at Archer, Tuesday;
• Pope boys at Stephenson, Wednesday;
• Walton boys at Shiloh, Wednesday;

Here are the GHSA brackets involving Northeast Cobb-area schools:

• Class AAAAAAA boys (Wheeler, Walton);
• Class AAAAA boys (Pope, Sprayberry);
• Class AAAAAA girls (Wheeler);
• Class AAAAA girls (Pope, Sprayberry, Kell).

All early-round games are on the floor of the higher seeds until the semifinals, which will be played at Kennesaw State.

The state championship games will be played in Macon.

We'll post tipoff time and other information for each first-round game when we get it; the GHSA just unveiled the brackets on Sunday morning.