The standings may say Skyline sits in fourth place, at 3-3 in the SEC Red.

But as one opposing coach, Pioneer’s Rex Stanczak, put it, “Skyline is just as good as everyone else, they’ve just been on the short end of the close games.”

In its first time through its inter-division SEC games, Skyline lost three times: to the three teams above it in the standings, by a combined 17 points.

That includes an overtime loss to Temperance Bedford Jan. 11, a six-point loss to Huron Jan. 25 and a two-point loss to Pioneer Jan. 29.

The Eagles very nearly won two of those games. Against Bedford, Skyline gave up game-tying 3 with 1.2 seconds left. And against Pioneer, Jibreel Hussein hit a 3 with 12 seconds left to give his team the win.

Luckily for Skyline, SEC Red teams each play one another twice, and it will have three chances at redemption. Those three will all come in the span of a week starting next Friday at Bedford.

Red takes the season

The SEC played the second of its two regular-season crossover nights Tuesday, and on the boys side, the results were one-sided.

SEC Red teams went 5-1 against their SEC counterparts Tuesday, with the division’s only loss being Monroe against Adrian.

Counting the Dec. 21 crossovers, the Red went 8-3 against the White this year. (Dexter and Skyline had their game from that night postponed to Feb. 12.)

On the girls side, the two divisions split an even 3-3 Tuesday, but in the Dec. 21 crossovers, the White went 5-1.

Both the boys and the girls finish the seasons by playing crossover games against the teams in the same spot in the standings, but those don’t count against league records.

County Scoring Leaders

Greenhills senior Andrew Khouri scored his 1,000th career point in the Gryphons' 62-57 win over Taylor Baptist Park on Tuesday.

Not only that, Khouri scored 28 points and boosted his scoring average up to a Washtenaw County best 22.9 points per game.

"He's a great outside shooter, and led the county in scoring last year," said Greenhills coach Andrew Wright. "And he's probably going to do it again."

Boys Leaders

Andrew Khouri, Greenhills		9		206		22.9
Jason Houle, Gabriel Richard		14		317		22.6
C.J. Turnage, Milan		14		249		17.8
Daquanta Brown, Willow Run		12		212		17.7
Mathias Donat, Washtenaw Christian		12		212		17.7
Jibreel Hussein, Pioneer		14		235		16.8
Reece Dils, Saline		14		222		15.9
Kamari Davis, Gabriel Richard		13		193		14.8
Latin Davis, Milan		14		198		14.1
Derek Seidl, Dexter		13		180		13.8

Girls Leaders

Jackie Oestreich, Greenhills		15		370		24.7
McKenna Erkfritz, Manchester		15		224		14.9
Taylor Manders, Manchester		15		211		14.1
Desiree Cougill, Pioneer		13		180		13.8
Riley Singleton, Chelsea		15		201		13.4
Jasmine Jones, Ypsilanti		15		200		13.3
Grace Sauers, Chelsea		15		193		12.9
Dominique Foley, Lincoln		15		192		12.8
Arie Cargor, Lincoln		16		202		12.6
Natassja Chambers, Arbor Prep		15		187		12.5

Willow Run heads for the train

The last regular-season road trip in Willow Run girls basketball history won’t be made on a bus.

The Flyers will take the train to Kalamazoo for their final two games of the season, in what coach Cliff Russell hopes will be a weekend for his players to visit a college campus and have experiences they wouldn’t normally have.

“We’re going to go in order to see things that many of us may have not seen before, and certainly to meet people that we normally wouldn’t get a chance to meet,” Russell said.

Willow Run plays at Lawrence Thursday, Feb. 21. The next day, the team will have a chance to tour the campus of Western Michigan University, and to watch the WMU women’s basketball team practice.

After a Saturday afternoon game at Benton Harbor DREAM Academy, the Flyers will take the train back to Ypsilanti.

The team is seeking donations to help defray the cost of the trip. Donations can be made to the Willow Run athletic office.

The weekend will mark the last regular-season ones for Willow Run, which will merge with Ypsilanti over the summer.

“I think it helps make their final memories of Willow Run High School even more special,” Russell said.

See-saw Chelsea girls

The Chelsea girls have been a tough team to pick these last two weeks.

On Jan. 25, the Bulldogs traveled to Lincoln to face a team that was 10-2 at the time and had won 5-of-6, in what looked like it would be a close game. Chelsea won, 62-43.

It was a big win for a team that started the SEC season with a win over Huron.

But when an Ypsilanti team that Chelsea had already beat by 28 came to town last Friday, it was a different story. Chelsea turned the ball over 25 times, and the Phoenix scored 25 fourth-quarter points.

"We didn't close the game out," Chelsea coach Todd Blomquist said. "We were really lackadaisical with the ball and committed a lot of turnovers."

The Bulldogs nearly were upset again Tuesday, when it needed overtime to beat a Skyline team that is 1-8 in the league.

So when it comes to Friday’s showdown with Dexter, who knows.

Game of the Week

The Arbor Prep boys won Game of the Week two weeks ago, and now the Arbor Prep girls are making a run at this week’s honors for their matchup against Greenhills. Voting stays open until noon Saturday.