Mike Ridaught
GAINESVILLE — The 2020-21 girls high school basketball season is off to a flying start with some teams very busy in their early seasons. Some teams will get revved up as we head towards the Christmas break.
But the team at the top, the Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville) Crusaders, remains the same. And in this poll the Crusaders are the unanimous #1 team in the all-classification regional rankings.
Bishop Kenny, which finished as the state runner-up the past two seasons, is off to a 7-1 start again this year with wins over then-#11 University Christian (Jacksonville), then-#9 Creekside (St. Johns), and #18 Bartram Trail (St. Johns), along with wins over St. Cloud and Sandalwood (Jacksonville).
The Crusaders’ only loss is 56-47 to Winston-Salem Christian (NC), which is ranked 25th in the nation by ESPN. Bishop Kenny remains #1 and receives all eight first-place votes from the pollsters this week.
Moving up a spot to #2 is defending 1A state champion Hawthorne. The Hornets (2-0) easily won their first two games over Hilliard and Countryside Christian (Gainesville).
Ribault (Jacksonville) is 3rd.
The Trojans (5-1) defeated Bartram Trail as well earlier this week, 48-36, and also own wins over Mandarin (Jacksonville) and First Coast (Jacksonville) with their only loss to Florida High (Tallahassee).
Nease (Ponte Vedra) is up four spots and into the top five at #4.
The Panthers (7-1) handed #9 St. Augustine their first loss of the season 53-50 in overtime earlier this week and also have given #5T Spruce Creek (Port Orange) and #11 Columbia (Lake City) their only losses to this point.
Spruce Creek is tied for fifth with Wildwood. The Wildcats stayed unbeaten at 5-0 by beating previously undefeated Crystal River 54-43 on Monday.
Despite that loss, Crystal River moves into the poll at #20.
Raines (Jacksonville), which was 2nd in the preseason ranking, drops to #7 in this poll after losing three of their first seven games.
Oakleaf (Orange Park) moves up seven slots and into the top ten at #8 after a 5-0 start that included a win over then-#17T Bolles (Jacksonville).
After St. Augustine at #10 is Mainland (Daytona Beach) which moves up four spots to #10 after a 4-0 start to their season.
Besides Crystal River, Andrew Jackson (Jacksonville) at #14, 16th-ranked Buchholz (Gainesville), #17 Terry Parker (Jacksonville), and Bartram Trail are all new to the poll this week.
Andrew Jackson and Buchholz are both off to 6-0 starts this season.
Dropping out from the preseason poll are Creekside, University Christian, Middleburg, Bolles, and Vanguard (Ocala).
The Prep Zone Power Poll ranks the top 20 high school football, volleyball, girls basketball, boys basketball, baseball & softball teams (regardless of FHSAA classification) across 26 counties in North Florida (Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Levy, Madison, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, Sumter, St. Johns, Suwannee, Taylor, Union & Volusia counties). It is voted on weekly by sportswriters and sportscasters and it is powered by Anytime Fitness of Gainesville.
THE PREP ZONE POWER POLL – 2020-21 GIRLS BASKETBALL POLL #2
(School, followed by classification, first-place votes, current record, and total voting points)
1. Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville) (4A) (8) (7-1) – 160
2. Hawthorne (1A) (2-0) – 140
3. Ribault (Jacksonville) (4A) (5-1) – 133
4. Nease (Ponte Vedra) (6A) (7-1) – 128
5T. Spruce Creek (Port Orange) (7A) (4-1) – 123
5T. Wildwood (1A) (5-0) – 123
7. Raines (Jacksonville) (4A) (4-3) – 107
8. Oakleaf (Orange Park) (7A) (5-0) – 94
9. St. Augustine (5A) (5-1) – 92
10. Mainland (Daytona Beach) (6A) (4-0) – 87
11. Flagler Palm Coast (7A) (1-0) – 85
12. Columbia (Lake City) (6A) (4-1) – 75
13. P.K Yonge (Gainesville) (3A) (2-0) – 58
14. Trenton (1A) (4-0) – 49
15. Andrew Jackson (Jacksonville) (3A) (6-0) – 39
16. Father Lopez (Daytona Beach) (3A) (3-3) – 28
17. Buchholz (Gainesville) (6A) (6-0) – 25
18. Terry Parker (Jacksonville) (5A) (4-2) – 24
19. Bartram Trail (St. Johns) (7A) (4-3) – 22
20. Crystal River (4A) (5-1) – 20
Also receiving votes: Lafayette (Mayo) (1A) (2-1) – 13; Fletcher (Neptune Beach) (6A) (6-0) – 11; Eustis (4A) (3-2) – 8; North Florida Educational Institute (Jacksonville) (2A) (5-0) – 6; Bishop Snyder (Jacksonville) (3A) (6-0) – 4; Episcopal (Jacksonville) (5-1) – 4; Williston (1A) (6-1) – 2; The Villages (4A) (7-2) – 1.