For the fourth year, PremierWest Bank and SiskiyouYouth.com are sponsoring the Basketball Challenge for varsity basketball teams in Siskiyou County: Butte Valley, Dunsmuir, Etna, Happy Camp, Mt. Shasta, Tulelake, Weed, and Yreka. The winning team’s players and coaching staff will receive custom made “Team of the Year” T-shirts.

The winner of the challenge will be the girls or boys team that is most successful during the 2010/2011 season, which is defined as the team that advances the furthest in the North Section CIF playoffs. The challenge will end at the finish of the section playoffs and does not include any state playoff games because Division-VI teams (Butte Valley, Dunsmuir, and Happy Camp) are not eligible for state playoffs. Tiebreakers also do not include state playoff games. Games against JV teams do not count.

If two or more teams reach the same point in the playoffs, the tiebreakers are as follows:

1. Best overall record (winning percentage).

2. Team with best record in its division (winning percentage).

3. Least points allowed per game.

4. Biggest point differential per game.

5. Coin flip.

Please note that the Challenge is not meant to determine the best basketball team, only the team with the most successful season. It’s a rare day when any Division-VI team beats any Division IV team on the court. It can happen, but the odds aren’t good.

What the challenge does do is fill a gap. It’s not unusual for one of the teams listed above to have a very good season, but not win its league because they are playing against schools that are much larger and a division higher. Or, the team runs into a private school during the playoffs that has an unfair advantage in obtaining players. And, of course, there are the public schools that are pretty much sports “factories” that “attract” players from nearby cities. It’s tough to compete against those types of schools.

The PremierWest/SiskiyouYouth Basketball Challenge is a way for a successful team to get the recognition it deserves.

The standings for the challenge will be updated on the SiskiyouYouth.com website each Wednesday and Saturday (Sunday if games are played on Saturday), as well as by Rick Martin on NorCal Classic Hits radio 102.3/101.7 on Wednesday and Monday mornings. The first update will be Sunday, December 4.

Last season’s winner was the Butte Valley Lady Bulldogs who won the NSCIF D-VI title. They also won the challenge the prior year. The Happy Camp Lady Indians won the first B-Ball Challenge.

Good luck to all the teams.

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