By WAYNE PHILLIPS
Sports Editor Emeritus
Coaches will quickly tell you that every basketball game on the schedule is important, but they'll also point out without hesitation that wins become just a bit more necessary once the Christmas break is over.
Area teams return to action on Friday night, with most having participated in holiday tournaments and round-robins to try to fine-tune their game as the meat of the district schedule looms ahead during the next month.
Prior to the holiday break, the majority of the games on the agenda are of the non-district variety. Now that the holidays are over, practically all the games left are district affairs as schools begin jockeying for seedings in the post-season tourneys, which will begin in February.
The Blue Ridge Athletic Conference has three district games on the agenda Friday night.
Grainger, undefeated at 16-0 after winning a tournament at Sparta in White County last week, is in charge of the girls' standings with a 5-0 worksheet, while the Greeneville boys, 4-0 in the BRAC, lead the boys' race.
South Greene's girls, 3-1 in the league and 12-5 after a good showing last week in the Landair Ladies' Classic, will be home to Claiborne (2-2, 6-7) Friday. The Lady Rebs are riding in second place in the standings.
In boys' play Friday, Chuckey-Doak has one of their biggest games of the year when the Greeneville Greene Devils pay a visit. The Black Knights are 4-1 in the league, having lost at Cumberland Gap, and 9-6 overall with some good competition last week, having won two close games in an event at Sullivan North.
Cumberland Gap also has one league loss in boys at 3-1 and they are home Friday night to winless West Greene.
Meanwhile District 1-A is set for a fight to the finish in both girls and boys as the season resumes.
Currently Unaka is 2-0 in girls and Hampton is 1-0, while North Greene is 1-1. Those three teams, plus Cloudland, are all formidable squads.
The University boys are also 2-0 in the district, and the Bucs, Rangers, Hampton and Cloudland are all expected to battle for the title, with North Greene figuring into the mix somewhere along the line.
The action heats up quickly Friday night when Cloudland pays a visit to North Greene while on Tuesday the Highlanders host Unaka.
Here's a recap of the current standings and the games involving the league teams over the next week:
BLUE RIDGE (District 2-AA)
Girls
Team Dist. Overall
Grainger 5-0 16-0
South Greene 3-1 12-5
Chuckey-Doak 3-2 7-10
Claiborne 2-2 6-7
Greeneville 2-2 5-10
West Greene 0-4 2-12
Cumberland Gap 0-4 0-9
Boys
Greeneville 4-0 11-6
Chuckey-Doak 4-1 9-6
Cumberland Gap 3-1 7-5
Grainger 2-3 7-9
Claiborne 1-3 4-8
South Greene 1-3 2-11
West Greene 0-4 0-10
(*) Indicates District Game
Friday, Jan. 4
West Greene at Cumberland Gap*
Claiborne at South Greene*
Greeneville at Chuckey-Doak*
Pigeon Forge at Grainger
Tuesday, Jan. 8
South Greene at Cumberland Gap*
Claiborne at Greeneville*
West Greene at Grainger*
Chuckey-Doak at North Greene
DISTRICT 1-A
Girls
Unaka 2-0 7-8
Hampton 1-0 13-4
North Greene 1-1 13-4
Cloudland 0-0 5-9
University 0-3 4-6
Boys
University 3-0 11-3
Unaka 1-1 6-6
Cloudland 0-0 10-5
Hampton 0-1 11-5
North Greene 0-2 10-4
Friday, Jan. 4
Cloudland at North Greene*
Unaka at Hancock Co.
Saturday, Jan. 5
Hampton at Unicoi Co.
Unaka at Cosby
University at David Crockett
Tuesday, Jan. 8
Unaka at Cloudland*
Johnson Co. at Hampton
Chuckey-Doak at North Greene
University at Sullivan North
