TABC Rankings 12-01-19

Area Teams Remain in Top 10

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

EAST TEXAS – The Texas Association of Basketball Coaches and the Texas Association of Girls Coaches have released their polls after the third week of basketball season for the girls and boys. The girls got underway with interschool games on Nov. 8 while the boys began on Nov. 15.

The Dec. 2 poll doesn’t show much change from the preseason on the boys’ side, mainly because a lot of those teams are still involved in playoff football or have just bowed out.

In Class 2A, Shelbyville (2-0) remained at number one while Gruver (0-0) held the number two spot. The Martin’s Mill Mustangs are 4-0 on the season and sit at number three. Hearne (0-0) remains at number four while the Tenaha Tigers have cranked up their season and sit at number five with a 1-1 record.  Muenster (0-0) is sitting at number six and is still playing football while number seven Grapeland (0-0) just bowed out of the playoffs and will begin play sometime this week.

Clarksville comes in at number eight with a 0-1 record while Thorndale is nine and Floydada is ranked tenth. The Slocum Mustangs sit just outside of the Top 25.

Moving to Class 3A, despite starting the season 0-5, Madison holds down the top spot. Brock remains in second with a 3-0 record, while Cole is ranked third with a 4-3 record.

Number four East Chambers (0-0), number five Randolph (2-0) and number six, the Crockett Bulldogs (1-0) all lost in the Area Round of football and have just started their seasons. The Bulldogs opened their season with a 72-41 blowout of Central Pollock with only one day of practice.

At number seven Shallowater (2-1) also lost in the football playoffs and will now be focused on basketball, while the number eight Coldspring-Oakhurst Trojans are now 2-0 on the young season. Grandview (1-2) comes in at number nine while Tatum is ranked tenth and has a 2-1 record. The Atlanta Rabbits dropped two games and fell out of the Top 10.

At the Class 4A level, the Palestine Wildcats opened their season with a 59-53 win over the Chapel Hill Bulldogs, but they’ve lost back-to-back games to Lufkin, 79-46, and lost a heartbreaker to number two Brock by a score of 44-43. They still remain at number 15.

Moving to the girls’ side of things, the TABC has the Grapeland Sandiettes ranked at #10 in Class 2A with a record of 3-3. The Sandiettes defeated the Brownsboro Bearettes, 60 49, won their second game by nearly 30 points and then defeated the Woodville Lady Eagles by a score of 61-44.

Their three losses came last week as they fell to A&M Consolidated 48-46, dropped another close one to Midlothian Heritage, 52-50 and then got beat by Lipan, 52-33.  

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].