KBCA Rankings (Dec. 19th, 2016) - click here

A couple weeks into the high school basketball season and the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association has released its final set of rankings for the calendar year as most teams are either headed into the break or have one final game on Tuesday before the break. Fifteen area teams find themselves in the rankings headed into the holiday break. 

Three area teams this week hold down the #1 ranking in their respective classification. In Class 1A-Division I the Centralia Panther girls come in ranked #1 again remaining at the spot after a 4-0 start to the year beating Doniphan West 60-34 last week. The Hanover Wildcat girls have also started the season 4-0 after a 56-27 win over Blue Valley last week and the Wildcats remain ranked #3 this week. In the boys 1A-DI rankings the Hanover Wildcats continue to hold the #1 spot after a 2-2 start to the year winning 82-36 last week over Blue Valley, while the Centralia Panther boys moved down one spot to #6 this week after a 62-51 loss to Doniphan Wes to put them at 3-1 on the season. 

The other area #1 team this week comes in Class 3A as the Marysville Bulldog boys who won 61-44 over Concordia last week to move to 4-0 on the year jumped up one spot in the KBCA 3A rankings to take over the #1 spot. Nemaha Central boys and girls both remained in the rankings this week also as the Thunder boys check in up one spot to #7 after a 3-1 start beating Sabetha 41-40 in overtime last week, while the girls are up two spots to #8 after a 4-0 start beating Sabetha 49-26 last week. The Sabetha Bluejay girls check in the 3A rankings again this week but fell seven spots to #10 in the polls after falling to Nemaha Central last week to move to 4-1 on the year. 

Class 2A features five area teams this week with two boys teams again and three girl’s teams. Both Troy and Jackson Heights boys remain in the 2A rankings this week after solid starts to the year. Troy ranks #4 again this week after beating Axtell 74-50 and Jefferson County North 57-44 last week to move to 4-0, while Jackson Heights moved up two spots to #8 after moving to 2-1 last week with a 71-40 over Pleasant Ridge. In the girls rankings the 2A poll feature zero area teams in it last week but now three teams rank #8, #9 and #10 this week as Washington County, JCN and Valley Falls check in at those spots. Washington County is ranked for the first time this year and are 5-0 on the year after a 65-32 win over Clifton-Clyde, while JCN beat Troy 51-12 to improve to 4-0 last week and Valley Falls is 3-1 on the year beating Maur Hill-Mount Academy 32-20 last week. 

The Class 4A-Division II rankings continue to feature a pair of Big Seven teams as the Holton Wildcat girls jump up one spot to #6 this week and Jeff West Tiger girls come in ranked #10 again this week. Holton improved to 3-1 last week with a 59-25 win over Riverside, while Jeff West also moved to 3-1 on the season beating ACCHS 53-16 last week. 

Few area teams hit the court on Tuesday with one more game before the holiday break, while some are already into the break after several games were canceled last Friday.