The 2021 Lady Rebels basketball team was the team that built a strong foundation for continued program success. On the road to achieving a stellar overall final record of 23-5, they had many accomplishments.
They were undefeated at home in the regular season and during the state tournament.
They were a perfect 16-0 in region play on their way to winning the 7-AA Region Championship. The 2021 Region Championship was the programs first Region Championship title in 21 years.
In the state playoffs, the Lady Rebels hammered Lovett 65-47 to kick off the first round of the tournament.
In the Sweet 16, they beat Heard County 54-46 in one of the most physical games of the year. In the Elite 8, the Lady Rebels went on the road and shocked the undefeated and number one ranked Early County Bobcats on their home floor, in a game where the entire state predicted Early County to win by a landslide. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Fannin County was, then, allowed to host the Final Four at home.
It was the only time in recent history the Final Four round was not played at a neutral site. It was an unforgettable day, in what many people think is the greatest sporting event ever played on our campus. In front of the largest crowd to ever attend a basketball game at Fannin County High School, the Lady Rebels stunned Butler High School at the buzzer.
In the final seconds of the game, Courtney Davis stole the ball and threw the ball ahead to a sprinting Becca Ledford who laid the ball in at the buzzer to send the Lady Rebels back to Macon for the first time since 2003. Fox 5 News called the ending the “Play of the Year” in Georgia High School Girls Basketball.
The team would come up just short against Josey in Macon, but completed the year with one of the top six greatest seasons in program history.
Coach Ryan Chastain said, “This group battled tremendous adversity to get us back to Macon. It had been so long since the program had reached that level of achievement. They were the team that made us believe again in the greatness of Fannin County Women’s Basketball. They set the tone for the next five years that the Lady Rebels basketball program would be a force to be reckoned with once again.”