by darren reese

sports editor

The North Greene girls' basketball team fell two spots to No. 9 in the latest Associated Press Class A state basketball rankings, released Monday night.

The Lady Huskies lost to another top ten team, District 1-A rival Hampton, 57-54 Friday night to fall to 14-7 overall on the year.

Hampton jumped three spots to No. 6 in the poll following its win over North Greene.

Last week's top-ranked team, Jackson County, lost to sixth-ranked Clarkrange, 64-48, and as a result dropped four spots to No. 5.

There is no clear-cut favorite in the poll as five different teams received at least one first-place vote.

Union City garnered eight first-place nods and is now the No. 1 team in the state with a 16-3 record. Coming in second is Cosby, who is 16-2 overall and got four first-place votes. Clarkrange also got four and is No. 3.

North Greene defeated Cosby earlier this season in the championship game of the Greene County Thanksgiving Classic at Chuckey-Doak High School.

In other girls' polls, Grainger, which rolled past South Greene in District 2-AA action Friday night, takes over the top spot in Class AA with a perfect 20-0 record. The Lady Grizzlies were the unanimous No. 1 team, collecting all 19 first-place votes.

Murfreesboro Riverdale is the No. 1 girls' team in Class AAA, followed by Blackman and Science Hill.

Area teams ranked in the boys' polls: Science Hill is No. 3 in Class AAA, while Cloudland is No. 9 in Class A.

See page B-2 for a full rundown of this week's prep rankings.