It has been a long time since an area boys basketball team has won back-to-back state titles.

It has been even longer for an area girls team.

P.K. Yonge girls’ basketball won the 2A state title in 2010 and the 3A state title in 2012 under head coach Willie Powers.

However, the last area girls’ team to win back-to-back was Keystone Heights, which won the 2A state championship in 1994 and the 3A title in 1995 under head coach Kathy Boatwright.

“The first time you win it you work so hard to get there and then after you win it you forget how hard it took to win it the first time and you don’t prepare as much, or you don’t work as hard,” Powers said. “You have a bullseye on your back, and you’ll come up short, and that happened to us.”

Powers said his players understood once they got beat in 2011 and failed to repeat that they had to work a lot harder.

“We ended up winning it (2012) because we put in that work that it takes to be a champion,” he said.

Hawthorne, which is coached by Cornelius Ingram, has a chance to win consecutive girls basketball Class 1A state titles, following a 42-38 win against Wildwood in last year’s state championship game.

A repeat title will once again run through Wildwood (15-3), which is ranked No. 1 in the FHSAA’s final rankings. They are also ranked 24th in the state regardless of classification.

Powers has played both teams in the past week.

They lost 62-24 at Wildwood on Jan. 25 and 46-33 at home to Hawthorne on Wednesday.

“Totally different teams,” Powers said. “Wildwood is up and down the court, shoot the trey ball, but what happens in the state championship is none of us play in open-air arenas and the shooting depth perception (RP Funding Center in Lakeland) hurts your shooting percentage. So if you live and die by the three it could be a long night and Hawthorne is one of those teams that is well-coached, a well-oiled machine, and Cornelius knows how to, once he gets a lead, you’re in trouble because he’s going to push the ball down into the post and their post player (Jhalea Jackson) is probably one of the best post players I’ve seen in a while who can dictate a game when the ball is in her hands.”

Jackson had 10 points and 17 rebounds in last year’s championship game against the Wildcats.

Hawthorne will be the No. 1 seed in next week’s 1A-District 6 tournament at Fort White High School and will play either No. 4 seed Bell or No. 5 seed Union County (Lake Butler) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in the district semifinals. The district championship game is at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

The Lady Hornets are peaking at the right time. They have yet to lose in 2024 and have won 13 consecutive games.

Ingram, who just led the football team to its second straight state title this past December, said “it’s hard” to repeat.

“I don’t think people understand how hard it is, to repeat anything, just to make it through a playoff year in and year out, play in a state championship game year in and year out” he said. “It’s extremely hard to do but if we focus and continue to grow, I think anything is possible for sure, but it is tough to do and we try not to worry about it too much and just worry about our next game.”

Hawthorne, which won the state title in 2020 under Ingram, lost to Ponce De Leon, 40-37, in the state title game in 2021.

The Hornets have made four trips to the final four in the past five years.

Meanwhile, the last area boys team to win back-to-back was Gainesville.

GHS won the Class 5A state title in 1999 and 2000.

Williston, which won its first state title in program history last March, is among the best teams in Florida.

The Red Devils (23-2), who defeated Chipley, 58-49, in the 1A title game, ended their regular season with a 68-22 win against Freedom (Tampa) on Thursday.

They have won five in a row since a 61-52 loss to defending 4A state champion Mater Lakes Academy (Miami) at the Wally Keller Shootout in Port Charlotte.

Their only other loss was in December to 7A state runner-up Winter Haven at the Kingdom of the Sun tournament at Vanguard (Ocala).

In the final FHSAA rankings, Winter Haven, which is nationally ranked, is ranked second overall in Florida and Mater Lakes Academy is ranked 10th.

Williston, which is ranked No. 1 in 1A, is ranked eighth overall in Florida.

“Our end goal is to win a state title,” said Williston coach Jim Ervin. “After winning one we came back in the gym two weeks after the state title last year and got to work. Their focus has been to get back to Lakeland and to win another state title. We just want to win the last game.”

Five players average in double figures for the Red Devils, including Kyler Lamb, who just reached 1,000 points for his career after scoring 25 points and grabbing seven rebounds in a 59-58 win last Saturday at the Vince Murray Classic at Vanguard against 2A No. 4 North Tampa Christian Academy (Wesley Chapel), the No. 22 overall team in the state.

“It speaks volumes of Kyler,” Ervin said. “He was getting close to getting 1,000 points, but you didn’t see him playing selfish.”

With a 61-48 win against Hawthorne at the Kingdom of the Sun, a 30-point blowout win against 6A Buchholz, and a 71-46 blowout of 6A GHS, among others, the Red Devils have proven they are clearly the best team in the area.

“This was a pretty intense schedule for us this year,” Ervin said. “Our two losses this year were competitive games and down to the wire…those schedules will pay off at the end of the year, I hope.”

Ervin said there is one key piece to the puzzle to repeating.

“I think the biggest thing is staying healthy,” he said. “We’ve had multiple injuries this year which is something we didn’t have last year…if we can get healthy, I think we are one of the four or five teams in the state that has a chance to win it.”

Williston is the No. 1 seed in next week’s 1A-District 7 tournament and will play either No. 4 seed Dixie County (Cross City) or No. 5 seed Wildwood in Thursday’s district semifinals.

They are locked in.

“If you see that locker room in pregame, and you see it after games, you see us in practice how we compete now, and the work ethic we have, we’re in here two hours before every home game doing skill work and getting prepared during shoot around, it explains what we’re about,” Ervin said. “It’s a business to them. It’s a job, and they’re going to finish the job.”