Friday Night UC Hoops: Upperman Girls Look to Avoid Three-Game Skid

It’s been a long time since the Upperman Lady Bees lost three consecutive basketball games. In fact, one has to research all the way back to January 31 through February 4, 2014, to find the last time it happened. It’s an extremely rare occurrence, needless to say, for one of the state’s elite girls’ basketball program.

Tonight, Upperman will try to avoid its first three-game losing streak in eight years, as they travel to White County for the second meeting of the season with the Warriorettes. White County won the first meeting, 44-39, in Baxter, back on December 10, and the Lady Bees are coming off District losses to Livingston Academy (43-38) and DeKalb County (42-40) in the past week. Upperman, ranked #5 in this week’s Associated Press Class 3A poll, will look to get back on track against the eighth-ranked Warriorettes, who are still without the services of star senior Alaina Stiles, who was injured last week at Livingston. Stiles is expected to return to action at some point this season.

Another marquee girls’ match-up will take place tonight in Celina, as the third-ranked Clay County Lady Bobcats host fourth-ranked Clarkrange in a District 7-1A showdown. Clarkrange beat Clay County, 64-58, back on December 10, but the Lady Buffaloes have struggled of late, having lost district games to Pickett County and Red Boiling Springs prior to a district win over Gordonsville on Tuesday. Clay County has won six of their last seven games.

Here’s a look at tonight’s schedule:

Clarkrange at Clay Co.
Gordonsville at Pickett Co.
Cumberland Co. at Macon Co.
DeKalb Co. at Stone Memorial
Sequatchie Co. at Jackson Co.
Livingston Academy at Lighthouse Christian
Red Boiling Springs at Monterey
Upperman at White Co.
Van Buren Co. at South Pittsburg
Shelbyville at Warren Co.
York Institute at Bledsoe Co.