Four boys teams and three girls teams have yet to lose this season.
Pickens County (Reform) could be the state's best boys basketball team. The Tornadoes won the AHSAA
Class 2A state boys basketball championship last year with a thrilling
triple-overtime win over Houston County at the Final 48 State Tournament
held at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex.
Pickens
County picked up where it left off this season and has cruised into
the new year at 12-0. Among the wins was a 71-70 victory over
Class 6A top-ranked Homewood in the Marble City Classic at Sylacauga in
December and a 53-51 win over Class 6A Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa in the
Checkers Tourney two weeks later. Coach Russ Wallace's team won't be
able to defend its 2A state crown, however. Pickens County has dropped
to Class 1A – not good news for the AHSAA's smallest schools.
WHITT LEADS HOMEWOOD
Homewood (14-2) rebounded from its loss to Wallace's Tornadoes to win
the Birmingham Metro Tourney last week. The Patriots got a 39-point
effort from senior point guard
Marvin Whitt in the finals as Homewood
beat top-ranked Class 5A Wenonah 70-68. The Dragons (14-3) led by 17
heading into the fourth quarter before Whitt closed out the contest with
23 points in the final eight minutes. The win avenged Homewood's only
other loss, a 65-61 setback to Wenonah in the third game of the season.
Coach
Tim Shepler's Pats reached the 6A finals last season. They also showed
they are ready to make another Final 48 run with a 70-69 overtime win
over Butler in the semifinals of the Marble City Classic at Sylacauga.
Butler (Huntsville)
(17-1), which dropped from 5A to 4A this season, also rebounded to win
the Huntsville Times Classic last week. Coach Jack Doss' Rebels are
ranked No. 1 in Class 4A.
FOUR TEAMS STILL UNDEFEATED
Undefeated boys teams heading into January's stretch run in addition to
Pickens County are Class 3A
Carbon Hill (14-0) and
Clarke County (Grove Hill) (12-0)
and Class 1A
Alabama School for the Deaf (Talladega) (13-0).
Sumter County (York) (16-2)
is ranked first in Class 3A, though. The Wildcats would like nothing
better than to close out the school's final season with another state
title. Sumter County and
Livingston will consolidate into one new school
next year.{PAGEBREAK}
DON'T FORGET THE GIRLS
Class 3A
Madison Academy gets the girls' nod as the state's best team –
especially after handing top-ranked Class 6A Sparkman (18-1) its first
loss of the season on Jan. 3. The Lady Mustangs (18-2) are ranked No. 1
in the latest Alabama Sports Writers Association Class 3A girls high
school basketball rankings and are also ranked No. 20 in one national
poll. Sparkman, defending 6A state champion
Hoover (16-2) and
Bob Jones (Madison)
(14-4) are also ranked in some national prep polls.
The Mustangs
were selected No. 1 in the first ASWA Class 3A state poll of the 2008-09
season and this week's release marks the 22nd straight No. 1 ranking
for the Mustangs. However, Madison Academy has lost in the 3A state
finals to T.R. Miller (2009) and Sumter County (2010) the last two years
by identical 53-50 scores.
The Mustangs avenged an earlier loss
to Sparkman and also beat Class 6A third-ranked Bob Jones. Their other
loss was to Hoover in the season opener. They'll get another shot at
Hoover in the last regular-season game, hosting the second-ranked Bucs
on Feb. 8.
Erwin (Birmingham) can also stake its claim as the top
girls team after winning a big tourney in Memphis last week. The Eagles
(19-2) are currently ranked No. 1 in Class 5A.
Undefeated girls teams
include Class 4A
Cherokee County (Centre) (13-0), Class 3A
Montgomery Academy
(12-0) and defending Class 1A state champion
Shields (Beatrice) (12-0).
Shields has now won 41 games in a row dating back to the state finals of
2009. Coach Herbert Blackmon's Lady Panthers finished 30-1 that season
and 29-0 last year and have now won 71 of their last 72 games.
