The Missouri Basketball Coaches Association (MBCA) released its sixth poll of the high school basketball season, with the Trenton Lady Bulldogs, for the first time this season, slipping backwards in the poll. Trenton, the leaders in the Grand River Conference’s Eastern Division, were moved from #2 to #3 in Class 3 on Thursday afternoon, replaced at the 2 position by Whitfield, the team that beat the Lady Bulldogs in the state semifinals last March at the Hearnes Center in Columbia. Strafford remains a solidly positioned #1 team in the state in Class 3, with a perfect mark of 15-0. Strafford is 12-4 on the season, with Trenton at 14-1.
Trenton plays host to Milan tonight (Friday night) on Hot Country Z 101.7, and has a #1 seed for next week’s Hamilton Tournament. The Lady Bulldogs, with three home games (Milan, Polo, and Putnam County) remaining in GRC East play, have the inside track to being the GRC East representative in the Grand River Conference’s girls championship game on Friday, February 2nd.
The team with the inside track to the GRC Western Division title for the second straight year is Stanberry, with those Lady Bulldogs sitting at 14-1, ranked #8 in the state in Class 2. South Shelby is ninth and Mid-Buchanan third in the Class 2 girls poll.
In Class 1 girls, Southwest Livingston, with only one loss on the season, that coming against Class 4 St. Joseph Lafayette, remains entrenched at #2, one spot behind Walnut Grove. Norborne is sixth, with the unbeaten Green City Lady Gophers, coming off a Milan Tournament championship, sitting at #7. Mound City is #8 with Jefferson’s Lady Eagles at 10.
The only team to beat the Trenton Lady Bulldogs this season, the Benton Lady Cardinals, are up to #2 in the state in Class 4 girls basketball, trailing only Incarnate Word Academy.
In the boys state poll, the Milan Wildcats remain #3 in Class 2, with the only unbeaten team in the state in the Class 2 “Top Ten” in Trenton tonight for a 7:30 showdown with the defending GRC champion Bulldogs (on Hot Country Z 101.7, KTTNSports.com, and KTTN on the Tune-In Radio app). Milan is 17-0 after a Tuesday night win over South Harrison, trailing just #2 ranked and 12-2 Mid-Buchanan and top-ranked, 13-1 Sedalia Sacred Heart in this week’s rankings. Fayette is ranked #5 and Harrisburg #10 in Class 2.
The favorite in the GRC’s Western Division, the North Andrew Cardinals, are unbeaten and ranked #2 in Class 1, with the potential remaining for an unbeaten showdown in the GRC boys championship game between Milan and North Andrew still very much in play. Advance, out of southeast Missouri, is top-ranked in Class 1 boys, with Winston at #5, St. Joseph Christian at #9, and Meadville’s Eagles checking in at 10, although MHS did lose in Tri-County Conference play to Green City on Tuesday night.
Here is the MBCA poll (#6 of the season), released on Wednesday, January 17, 2018.
BOYS:
Class 1
1. Advance 11-3
2. North Andrew 14-0
3. Dora 14-3
4. Jamestown 13-1
5. Winston 14-1
6. Eminence 12-1
7. Lakeland 13-1
8. Walnut Grove 8-7
9. St. Joseph Christian 14-3
10. Meadville 12-3
Class 2
1. Sedalia Sacred Heart 13-1
2. Mid-Buchanan 11-2
3. Milan 16-0
4. Oran 11-3
5. Fayette 12-1
6. Thayer 14-2
7. Eugene 11-4
8. Hartville 13-4
9. New Bloomfield 12-3
10. Harrisburg 11-3
Class 3
1. Cardinal Ritter 14-6
2. Whitfield 12-4
3. Charleston 11-4
4. Clark County 13-0
5. Licking 13-3
6. Mountain Grove 14-1
7. Hallsville 13-1
8. Springfield Catholic 13-4
9. Saxony Lutheran 13-3
10. St. Paul Lutheran (Concordia) 11-2
Class 4
1. Vashon 9-2
2. Sikeston 10-1
3. St. Mary’s 14-2
4. Cape Central 13-1
5. Hillsboro 16-0
6. Grandview 11-2
7. Parkway Central 11-3
8. Nevada 12-2
9. Confluence Prep Academy 15-4
10. Raytown South 10-3
Class 5
1 Webster Groves 8-6
2 Lee’s Summit West 10-1
3 Hazelwood Central 16-1
4 Rock Bridge 14-0
5 North KC 17-0
6 Chaminade 12-2
7 Liberty 14-4
8 Oak Park 12-2
9 Ft. Zumwalt South 12-2
10 Glendale 10-5
GIRLS
Class 1
1. Walnut Grove 14-1
2. Southwest (Livingston County) 10-1
3. South Iron 10-3
4. Community 11-2
5. Madison 13-2
6. Norborne 7-2
7. Green City 13-0
8. Mound City 12-2
9. Leeton 11-2
10. Jefferson 11-3
Class 2
1. Skyline 16-1
2. Thayer 11-0
3. Mid Buchanan 14-1
4. Blue Eye 14-3
5. Oran 10-3
6. Neelyville 10-4
7. Fordland 12-2
8. Stanberry 14-1
9. South Shelby 12-3
10. Santa Fe 11-2
Class 3
1. Strafford 15-0
2. Whitfield 12-4
3. Trenton 14-1
4. South Callaway 14-0
5. Clark County 14-0
6. Monroe City 13-1
7. Licking 12-2
8. Fair Grove 14-3
9. Central (Park Hills) 13-1
10. Boonville 13-1
Class 4
1. Incarnate Word 9-3
2. Benton 12-0
3. Lincoln Prep 13-1
4. Parkway North 11-3
5. Carl Junction 11-2
6. Dexter 13-2
7. MICDS 11-2
8. St. Dominic 11-3
9. Lutheran South 11-2
10. Sullivan 14-2
Class 5
1. Kirkwood 12-1
2. North Kansas City 10-1
3. Kickapoo 12-2
4. Lee’s Summit West 10-2
5. Jackson 12-2
6. Rock Bridge 11-3
7. Branson 10-3
8. Park Hill South 13-1
9. Nixa 11-4
10. St. Joseph’s 11-3
