TIFTON — For the first time in Georgia High School Association state high school basketball tournament history, the league has ousted a team during the tournament.

GHSA Executive Director Dr. James R. Hines announced Monday in a statement on the league’s website that Tucker High’s Lady Tigers had been disqualified from competition.

The statement said an investigation “has found Tucker High School to be in violation of GHSA by-law 1.70 concerning Recruiting and Undue Influence. As a result, the Tucker girls basketball team is ruled to have been playing several ineligible players this season and, therefore, must vacate their position in the ongoing state basketball tournament.”

In the Class AAAAAA bracket, Tucker had advanced to the quarterfinals Grovetown in the first round by a 42-37 final and Bradwell Institute in the second round, 54-35.

In 1987, Rockdale County was stripped of the Class AAA boys basketball crown because of an ineligible player. The GHSA recognizes no champion in Class AAA for that year.

Unlike 1987, the GHSA is giving other schools a second chance. Grovetown and Bradwell Institute will meet today in a contest. That game’s winner will play Harrison — Tucker’s original scheduled opponent — in the quarterfinals Thursday. Semifinals will be played at West Georgia Saturday.

Forfeits have been few and far between in tournament history.

An off-campus incident in 2012 left Wilcox County with only three players available for their first round game against Randolph-Clay. Wilcox head coach George Kennedy opted to forfeit that contest. A year prior, Calhoun County walked off the court during its first round game against Calvary Day.

During the GHSA’s short-lived Class D championship for accredited two-year high schools, two teams failed to appear for tournament games at Woodruff Hall in Athens. Tubize-Chatillon, of Rome, forfeited its game in 1938 and suburban Atlanta school, Brookhaven, did not show in 1941.