The Heal points for girls basketball came out earlier today. I wanted to take a quick look at the classes which have teams in the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel coverage area (Eastern A, Eastern B, Western B, Western C, Western D).

Eastern A

The first thing I was struck by is that Messalonskee-Oxford Hills is currently the 4-5 matchup. Damn, that's a tough league. It's possible both will move up, though. Those are the two teams to beat No. 1 Skowhegan.

Skowhegan has games remaining against Nokomis, Bangor, Brewer and Mt. Blue. All except Mt. Blue are big games for Skowhegan's opponents. Nokomis and Brewer probably can't move into the top 5, but they're fighting for seeding. A win over Skowhegan would be huge for Bangor, which has lost a number of close games this winter and needs some points to ensure a playoff spot.

Lawrence in the eighth seed with a 10-4 record looks curious, but it makes more sense if you look at the Bulldogs' schedule. Four of those wins are against Lewiston and Mt. Blue, both of whom are winless and give you one Heal point per win. They've also beaten Morse twice, which is 2-12. Lawrence hasn't defeated anyone in the top five, but will have another chance Feb. 5 in the season finale at Messalonskee.

Cony moved up to ninth, and has some point-worthy games remaining. The Rams face Oxford Hills and Brunswick, and also host Mt. Ararat, one of the teams they're battling for those final few spots.

Eastern B

John Bapst is ahead of Waterville, but my guess is that's because John Bapst has 16 games and Waterville has 14. Waterville has two big Heal point games coming up, against Mt. View and Winslow. Running the table should give the Purple Panthers the No. 1 seed.

Winslow is seventh with an 11-3 record. Barring an upset of Waterville, the Black Raiders' best chance for points is to hold off Oak Hill on Feb. 3.

Gardiner is tryting to hold on to the No. 13 spot, so that game against Lincoln tonight is huge for the Tigers. Gardiner's last three opponents had a combined six wins entering the week.

Western B

This is one weird class. York and Greely are clearly at the top, and Mtn. Valley is in No. 3. Then there are EIGHT teams with a record of 8-6 or 9-5, and only seven will make the playoffs. Oak Hill has two games against team which are worth a lot of points (Waterville and Winslow) and two games which aren't (MCI and Maranacook). So that Winslow-Oak Hill game is big for Oak Hill as well.

Western C

A total of 15 teams make the playoffs in this bracket. All of them have at least four losses except Waynflete (12-2), Jay (10-3) and Hyde (6-2). Mt. Abram, Hall-Dale, Carrabec and Winthrop are all is a jumble of teams battling for seeding. Mt. Abram may have the toughest schedule of the lots with games against Jay, Dirigo, Carrabec and Madison (although Madison should have been more competitive against Jay on Monday).

Western D

The top seven teams go right to the Augusta Civic Center (only the eighth and ninth seeds have a play-in game) and the top five teams are set. All five of them are from the East/West Conference, and really, all five of them could win the tournament.