Tuscaloosa-area boys and girls high school basketball rankings midway through the season
There is just about one month remaining in the regular season of high school basketball before area, regional and state tournaments start.
Here are the top-5 Tuscaloosa area girls and boys basketball teams during the second week of January.
Boys basketball
Paul W. Bryant (16-3, 2-0 6A-Area 6): To no surprise, the Stampede is having another successful start to its 2023-24 season following a Class 6A final four appearance. They have gotten off to a 16-3 start and 2-0 start in area play behind a 60-38 win over Central and a 73-48 win over Hillcrest. Behind Adrian Wooley and Rafe Merriweather, the Paul W. Bryant offense is averaging 59.6 points per game.
Northridge (18-2, 1-0 6A-Area 6): The Jaguars are another team from 6A-Area 6 off to a hot start. They have only dropped two games this season by just a combined eight points — a 60-55 loss to Homewood and 45-42 loss to John Carroll. Northridge began area play last month with a 45-41 win over Hillcrest. John Walker leads the Jaguars averaging 16.5 points and nine rebounds per game.
Tuscaloosa County (13-8, 0-1 7A-Area 5): Despite having all of its starters from its 2022-23 team graduate, Tuscaloosa County has had a good start to the season behind seniors Jackson Moore, Jaxon Pearson, Sheldrick McNeal Jr. and Calan Sullivan. Most notably, the Wildcats defeated in-county rival Paul W. Bryant 71-69 in double-overtime on Dec. 12.
Hillcrest (14-8, 0-1 6A-Area 6): The Patriots currently sit in fourth place in 6A-Area 6 after early area losses to Northridge and Paul W. Bryant. Hillcrest, though, has some time to work its way back up the area rankings with games against Central, Paul W. Bryant and Northridge all on the docket.
American Christian Academy (14-4, 3-0 4A-Area 7): ACA has gotten itself off to a 3-0 start in 4A-Area 7 with area wins over Hale County (77-69), Sipsey Valley (41-38) and Northside (59-52). Senior guard Davis Dare leads the Patriots with 19.5 points per game.
BOYS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Vote now for your Tuscaloosa area boys athlete of the week, for the week of Jan. 5
GIRLS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Vote now for your Tuscaloosa area girls athlete of the week, for the week of Jan. 5
Girls basketball
Hillcrest (16-5, 2-0 6A-Area 6): The Lady Patriots have not taken it easy on themselves in terms of strength of schedule, with nearly all five of their losses this season coming from Class 7A or out of stand contenders. Despite this, Hillcrest has gotten itself off to a 16-5 start and 2-0 start in area with wins over Northridge (61-26) and Paul W. Bryant (52-27).
Northridge (14-6, 0-1 6A-Area 6): The Lady Jaguars have seen much success this season behind Jakeya Horton, who scored a career-high 26 points two weeks ago, along with Ryan Bardenwerper. Despite dropping their first area game 61-26 to Hillcrest, Northridge has big area games coming up against Central and Paul W. Bryant.
Tuscaloosa County (13-7, 0-1 7A-Area 5): The Lady Wildcats got 7A-Area 5 play started this week with a 56-29 loss to Vestavia Hills. They have a tough area slate ahead with games against Thompson, Hoover and Vestavia Hills, but got themselves off to a good start during the first half of the season.
Hale County (14-5, 1-0 4A-Area 7): Hale County is on a three-game win streak following wins over Buckhorn (60-52), Northridge (57-51) and Pell City (48-41). Its five losses come from Class 7A Tuscaloosa County (54-33), Class 6A Central (51-47, 45-42) and Hillcrest (49-21) along with Class 5A Guntersville (51-48).
Sulligent (10-1, 2-0 2A-Area 10): One of the top-5 teams in Class 2A is outscoring opponents 633-35 and has dropped just one game this season to Class 4A Hamilton, 74-34.
Anna Snyder covers high school sports and University of Alabama recruiting for The Tuscaloosa News. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com. Follow her on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @annaesnyder2
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: AHSAA basketball: Tuscaloosa girls and boys top-5 rankings
