Welcome to the TCC

Sand Creek travels to Summerfield tonight in a TCC girls basketball game that could go a long way toward deciding the TCC champ.
The Aggies are 7-0 in the TCC while the Bulldogs are playing well and 6-1.
Here’s the updated standings:
Sand Creek 7-0, 9-2
Summerfield 6-1, 9-1
Clinton 6-3, 8-3
Madison 5-3, 8-4
Whiteford 3-4, 4-6
Morenci 2-2, 2-4
Deerfield 1-5, 1-9
Whitmore Lake 1-5, 1-9
Britton 0-6, 1-8

It will be an fun weekend around the Tri-County Conference.
On Saturday, Whiteford and Clinton will battle it out for a share of the TCC lead. Whiteford is an interesting team with juniors Brandon Albright and Jake DuPree hovering around the 20-points per-game level and only two seniors on the squad. Clinton has won four straight after starting 1-4.
Summerfield takes on state-ranked Dundee, who is fresh off a lopsided win over Erie Mason. In their previous game, the Vikings were surprised by Lenawee Christian.
Also on Saturday’s schedule, Morenci is at Deerfield.
Here’s the updated boys standings:
Summerfield 6-1, 9-1
Whiteford 6-1, 7-3
Clinton 5-1, 5-4
Madison 5-3, 6-6
Whitmore Lake 5-3, 6-5
Sand Creek 4-4, 4-7
Deerfield 1-6, 2-7
Morenci 1-6, 1-10
Britton 0-8, 0-11

THURSDAY NIGHT TCC ACTION (as reported on www.monroenews.com, www.mlive.com and heard on WLEN (103.9 FM) radio:
Madison 74, Britton 44
Madison’s Jamison Webster scored a career-high 31 points to lead the Trojans.
Summerfield 82, Deerfield 46
Summerfield’s top scorers: Eric Cogan 21, Tayler Glass 16.
Whiteford 65, Sand Creek 52

Whiteford’s top scorers: Jake DuPree 16, Brandon Albright 14, Jake Ritzenthaler 10.

Whitmore Lake 89, AA Greenhills 86: Colton Judge scored a career-high 33 points as Whitmore Lake’s offense remains in high gear with a 89-86 win.

Clinton 64, Morenci 48: Clinton got 12 points from Nate Dreslinski, Tyler Hoelzer and Rylie Robinson in its victory.

Whitmore Lake beat Morenci 91-66 Monday.
It was the first time the Trojans have ever scored 90 points in a single TCC game. Interestingly, Morenci has scored 90 points in a game eight times against Whitmore Lake in its history, including a 108-58 win in 1992. Morenci holds the single game TCC record with 124 points, when it beat Madison 124-49 on Feb. 24, 1989. Whitmore Lake has given up 90 points in a TCC game 17 times since the league began.

Ron Montri, sports editor of The Monroe Evening News, has compiled the most updated list of scoring leaders in the Monroe County Region. Interestingly, Whiteford has the top two scorers in the Region in Brandon Albright and Jake DuPree. Here’s a partial list that appears in today’s Evening News:
REGION SCORING
G Pts Ave
Brandon Albright, Whiteford 6 133 22.2
Jake DuPree, Whiteford 8 167 20.9
Ricky Rightnowar, Bedford 7 140 20.0
Tony Southorn, Lutheran S 8 149 18.6
Quinn Coleman, Milan 2 37 18.5
Eric Cogan, Summerfield 9 164 18.2
Keenan Wetzel, SMCC 8 142 17.8
Andrew Scarton, FR 9 156 17.3
Dylan Jablonski, Mason 7 121 17.3
Daniel Jones, Airport 9 155 17.2
Tim Frost, State Line 19 329 16.8
Dontez Patton, Carlson 11 178 16.2
Nic Jobe, Ida 11 177 16.1

BOYS BASKETBALL
Summerfield 5-1, 8-1
Whiteford 4-1, 5-3
Clinton 3-1, 3-4
Sand Creek 4-2, 4-5
Madison 4-2, 5-5
Whitmore Lake 4-3, 4-5
Morenci 1-4, 1-8
Deerfield 0-5, 1-6
Britton 0-6, 0-9

GIRLS BASKETBALL
Sand Creek 6-0, 8-2
Summerfield 5-1, 8-1
Clinton 6-2, 8-2
Madison 4-3, 7-4
Whiteford 3-3, 4-5
Morenci 2-2, 2-4
Whitmore Lake 1-5, 1-9
Britton 0-5, 1-7
Deerfield 0-5, 0-8

Whitmore Lake downed the Summerfield Friday, 87-79, handing the Bulldogs their first loss of the 2008-09 campaign. The 4-4 Trojans made 13 3-pointers, giving them 88 in TCC play already this season. Colton Judge led the Trojans with 25 points.
In other games, Brandon Albright (29) and Jake DuPree (23) each topped the 20-point level as Whiteford beat Morenci 71-48.
Also Friday, Clinton held Britton to one point in the fourth quarter and beat the Tories 73-30; Sand Creek beat Deerfield and Madison topped Lenawee Christian in a non-league game.

District draws are starting to be posted on www.mhsaa.com, which is putting them in a nice and clean bracket format this year. Summerfield is hosting a boys and girls districts. Those draws will be held Feb. 3.

Here are some of the districts involving TCC teams that have been reported:

GIRLS Class C at Vandercook Lake

March 2: Grass Lake vs. Michigan Center, 4:30 p.m.; East Jackson vs. Ann Arbor Skyline, 6:30 p.m.; Whitmore Lake vs. Vandercook Lake, 8:30 p.m.

March 4: Napoleon vs. Grass Lake/Michigan Center winner, 6:30 p.m.; East Jackson/Ann Arbor Skyline winner vs. Whitmore Lake/Vandercook Lake winner, 8:30 p.m.

March 6: Championship, 7:30 p.m.

GIRLS CLASS C AT BLISSFIELD

Monday, March 2, 2009
6:00 p.m. ~ Blissfield vs. Sand Creek
7:30 p.m. ~ Morenci vs. Whiteford
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
6:00 p.m. ~ Erie Mason vs. Blissfield/Sand Creek winner
7:30 p.m. ~ Madison vs. Morenci/Whiteford winner
Friday, March 6, 2009
7:00 p.m. ~ Championship Game
The district winner will advance to Regional #18 to be played at Napoleon High School.

Boys Class C at Sand Creek

Monday, March 9, 2009
6:00 p.m. ~ Erie Mason vs. Blissfield
7:30 p.m. ~ Whiteford vs. Sand Creek
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
6:00 p.m. ~ Madison vs. Mason/Blissfield winner
7:30 p.m. ~ Morenci vs. Whiteford/Sand Creek winner
Friday, March 13, 2009
7:00 p.m. ~ Championship Game
The district winner will advance to Regional #18 to be played at Manchester High School.

BOYS CLASS C AT HUDSON

March 9: Hanover-Horton vs. Clinton, 6 p.m.; Addison vs. Hudson, 7:30 p.m.

March 11: Manchester vs. HH-Clinton winner, 6 p.m.; Pittsford vs. Addison-Hudson winner, 7:30 p.m.

March 13: Finals, 7 p.m.

Here are the updated TCC boys scoring leaders. First column is overall and second column is TCC games only:
Updated TCC scoring leaders
All Avg. TCC Avg.
Jake DuPree, Whs 146 20.9 89 22.3
Eric Cogan, Sum 155 19.4 105 21.0
Brandon Albright, Whs 104 20.8 75 18.8
Jamison Webster, Mad 149 16.6 109 18.2
Rick Smith, Clinton 53 17.7
Clayton Wolf, Mor 87 12.4 55 13.8
Brett Bovee, Mor 79 9.9 55 13.8
Colton Judge, WL 102 12.8 81 13.5
Zane Powers, SC 107 15.3 65 13.0
Nate Dreslinski, Cli 38 12.7
Jared Adams, SC 91 13.0 62 12.4
Nick Wilt, SC 91 13.0 60 12.0
Nic Greenwood, Cli 36 12.0
Ryan Foster, WL 78 9.8 70 11.7
Brandon Keller, Dee 87 14.5 44 11.0
Mike Sayres, Dee 58 9.7 43 10.8
Chase St. Charles, WL 69 8.6 64 10.7
Jerek Jeffrey, Bri 89 11.1 53 10.6
Mike Burman, Bri 99 12.4 50 10.0
Zach Brewer, Mad 96 10.7 59 9.8

David Green of the State Line Observer offered up his opinion and advice on how the TCC athletic directors are scheduling boys and girls games this year. There is a link to the Observer on the right.
Here’s his editorial:

This is year two of the new winter sports schedule for Michigan schools—less chaotic than the first round last season, but still not easy to follow.
We’ve heard that various leagues are making their own adjustments, without any statewide pattern being followed. Within the county there might be a boys game at one school and a girls game at another.
We suggest the Tri-County Conference athletic directors take the approach we proposed last year: look at the Buckeye Border Conference in Ohio and follow that pattern.
For half of the season, fans know the girls will have the gymnasium on Friday nights. For the other half, it will be the boys’ turn. In the Tri-County Conference, there’s no consistency at all.
Fayette tends to schedule a lot of Saturday games for the boys to give them a weekend date and reduce the number of week night games.
The Saturday schedule includes one date when the boys and girls both play at the same location.
For a more dramatic solution to the change in seasons, we’d like to see some nights where the varsity girls and boys play on the same night and the junior varsity teams play on another.
It’s likely we’ll be feeling the disarray of Michigan’s season change—moving volleyball to the fall—again next year at this time with the schedule bouncing around chaotically. The effort to make adjustments won’t be easy at first, but it needs to begin now before it’s too late to change.