Same 10. Different order.
PennLive’s Class AAA girls’ basketball state rankings got a bit of a facelift this week.
The top spot, however, did not change.
Bethlehem Catholic kept on keeping on over the last week, with wins over Northampton and Nazareth, as the Golden Hawks remained unbeaten.
The rest of the top five, however, has a new look:
Philly’s Archbishop Wood jumped up to the 2-line; Blackhawk, which suffered its first loss, to Central Valley, on Jan. 9, slipped to third; Philly’s Bonner-Prendergast, despite a loss, bumped to fourth; and Scranton Prep cracked the top 5.
Prendie dropped a 57-56 decision to Philly Catholic League rival — and Class AAAA honorable mention — Cardinal O’Hara on Tuesday, and the Friars’ only other loss is to a team from Kentucky over the holidays.
So we kept B-P with the lead pack thanks to its strength of schedule.
Two District 3 teams are in the top 10:
Reigning district champ Palmyra slipped to No. 7 after falling to Mid-Penn Keystone rival Hershey last week. And Lancaster Catholic bumped up to No. 6 after winning its 11th game in a row on Tuesday, an 83-51 romp over Elco.
Villa Maria out of Erie, undefeated D10 outfit Hickory and Allentown Central Catholic — which has won three games in a row since a heart-breaker double-OT loss to No. 1 Becahi on Jan. 7 — stayed put.
As mentioned last week, the AAA classification is mighty deep, with plenty of teams cracking our honorable mention selections. District playoffs and PIAA playoffs for AAA should be awesome.
Here’s our fresh Class AAA top 10 and honorable mention picks (records through Tuesday with home district in parenthesis) …
1. Bethlehem Catholic (11) 11-0. Previously: 1.
2. Archbishop Wood (12) 8-1. Previously: 3.
3. Blackhawk (7) 12-1. Previously: 2.
4. Bonner-Prendergast (12) 9-2. Previously: 5.
5. Scranton Prep (2) 10-1. Previously: 6.
6. Lancaster Catholic (3) 11-1. Previously: 7.
7. Palmyra (3) 12-1. Previously: 4.
8. Villa Maria (10) 9-2. Previously: 8.
9. Hickory (10) 12-0. Previously: 9.
10. Allentown Central Catholic (11) 12-1. Previously: 10.
HONORABLE MENTION
Belle Vernon (7) 9-3; Berks Catholic (3) 12-2; Bradford (9) 9-2; Central Valley (7) 9-4; Elizabeth-Forward (7) 10-1; Greencastle-Antrim (3) 12-0; Hopewell (7) 10-2; Mercyhurst Prep (10) 7-3; Middletown (3) 13-1; North Pocono (2) 10-1; North Schuylkill (11) 12-2; Northwestern Lehigh (11) 12-1; Pope John Paul II (1) 11-1; Susquehannock (3) 10-3; Villa Maria (1) 7-5; West Mifflin (7) 9-2; West York (3) 10-2.