Full KBCA Rankings January 6th - click here

The holiday break is over and the high school basketball scene is heating up again as the action started back early this week. The Kansas Basketball Coaches Association has released its first set of rankings in 2016 and they remain entirely unchanged from the last rankings of 2015, thus having 15 area teams in the rankings. 

Eight Twin Valley League teams continue to remain ranked between the girls and boys rankings in the classes of 2A, 1A-DI and 1A-DII. The lady Eagles of Axtell are the only area team in the 1A-DII rankings checking in at tenth in the polls and are 7-2 on the season after beating Wetmore on Tuesday. 

In 1A-DII both Centralia and Hanover continue to have both their girls and boys teams ranked and the Doniphan West boys remain ranked, also. The Centralia girls are 5-1 on the season after beating Doniphan West on Tuesday and are ranked third in the 1A-DI polls, while the Panther boys are ranked fourth on the year and are also 5-1 after falling to Doniphan West in double overtime on Tuesday. Hanover boys remain number one as they have all season and are 4-2 after routing Linn early this week, while the Wildcat girls are ranked eighth with a 5-1 record on the year after beating Linn coming out of the holiday break. The Doniphan West boys continue to sit at third in the 1A-DI polls and remain unbeaten at 5-0 after winning a tough double overtime contest against Centralia. 

Class 2A houses the Washington County Tigers from the TVL as the boys are 7-0 on the year after beating Blue Valley recently and remain ranked third, while the lady Tigers are 6-1 and also beat Blue Valley earlier this week. Also in the rankings in 2A is a pair of Northeast Kansas League teams in the Valley Falls girls and Jackson Heights boys. The lady Dragons took care of Jackson Heights on Tuesday to move to 6-0 on the year and are ranked second, while the Jackson Heights boys also remain unbeaten at 5-0 after beating Valley Falls on Tuesday and rank seventh. 

Sabetha and Nemaha Central continued to highlight the class 3A KBCA rankings as both Big Seven League teams have their girls and boys teams in the rankings. The Sabetha girls and boys are both 6-0 after each beating Riverside in the first game out of the holiday break, the Bluejay boys needed overtime to earn the win. The Sabetha girls sit at second in the polls and the boys are ranked third. For Nemaha Central the girls are 6-0 after a win against Royal Valley recently and check in at seventh in the polls, while the Thunder boys fell to Royal Valley on Tuesday falling to 4-2 on the season and rank ninth in the 3A polls. 

The Holton Wildcat girls are the only area team in the KBCA 4A-DII rankings as they come in tenth in the polls with a 4-2 record after winning at Jeff West on Tuesday. 

Now that the holiday break is in the rear view mirror the high school basketball action will start to heat up again across the State with midseason tournaments on the horizon in the coming weeks.