Following the completion of region tournament basketball last weekend, Bartow County had three teams survive and punch their ticket to the GHSA State Tournaments this weekend.

The Cartersville Lady Hurricanes (21-6 overall) will be the only girls’ team in Bartow to advance to the state playoffs for the second straight season.

After a stellar season that saw them finish as the No. 7 team in AAA according to the GACA coaches’ poll, the Lady ‘Canes entered the 7AAA tournament as the No. 2 seed.

Following a first round bye, Cartersville made quick work of Ringgold in the quarterfinals 59-39, and put away Gilmer in the semifinals 58-41 to set up a championship matchup with their rival to the south, Allatoona.

The two teams split two heated matchups in the regular season, but the Lady Buccaneers eventually took the rubber match, and region championship, with a 56-40 win on Saturday night.

Like a season ago when they made a run to the Elite Eight, the Lady ‘Canes enter the AAA state tournament as the No. 2 seed from 7AAA where they will play host to Oconee County (21-5) in the first round.

The Cartersville ladies will be joined at state by the Cartersville boys who return to the state playoffs after a one-year hiatus in 2011.

The ’Canes (15-7) also entered the 7AAA tournament as a No. 2 seed and advanced through the quarterfinal round easily with a 66-50 over Ridgeland before losing to Dalton in the semifinals.

Cartersville will be a No. 3 seed at the state tournament and travel to Gainesville this weekend to play 8AAA runner-up North Hall (23-5) in the first round.

The Woodland Wildcats (25-2) fell just short of their first region championship since 2006 when they were upended by Chattahoochee in the 7AAAA championship game 66-58.

Woodland entered the tournament as the top seed after beating Chattahoochee in the regular season and easily advanced through the quarterfinals and semifinal rounds with convincing wins over Rome (67-24) and Sequoyah (59-38).

The Wildcats will play in their first state playoff games since 2006 this weekend when they play host to the No. 3 seed from 8AAAA, Rockdale County (19-8).