The holidays are over, and it’s time to get back to school and work.
And for area high school basketball teams, the real work begins soon.
The Class 4A Greater St. Helens League opens league play this week — Thursday for guys and Friday for the ladies.
Teams from 3A and 2A GSHL will open league play next week.
So this seems a good time to look back at what we’ve learned about teams from the non-league games.
4A GSHL BOYS: If you looked at the schedule at the start of the season, it would have been easy to assume that several 4A GSHL boys teams would enter league play with winning records, given schedules filled with teams from lower classifications.
The fact that only one 4A GSHL team will enter league play with a winning record is a troubling stat.
Only Mountain View (5-3) is above .500 as most teams play their final non-league game of the regular season on Tuesday.
But that doesn’t necessarily label the Thunder as the team to beat in the 4A GSHL. Four of Mountain View’s wins have come against Class 2A teams or similarly sized schools from Oregon.
In fact, no 4A GSHL squad has distinguish itself from the rest. As a whole, 4A GSHL teams are 8-19 against 3A GSHL teams this season.
But there have been some solid wins by the 4A GSHL. December 8 was a good day for the league, with Battle Ground beating Hudson’s Bay, Evergreen stopping Fort Vancouver, Skyview beating Columbia River, Kelso topping Prairie and Mountain View rolling past Union.
The other days didn’t go nearly as well.
But fans of the 4A GSHL can take heart in two facts about the non-league schedule.
For one, the slate gets wiped clean on Thursday. Not one of the non-league games will play a role in determining postseason berths.
And it looks as if the 4A GSHL is in for a competitive and entertaining league season.
4A GSHL GIRLS: The records of the 4A GSHL girls teams are more in line with what you might expect. Five of the six teams will enter league play with winning records.
In fact, before Skyview dropped three of four against tough competition in the Nike Interstate Shootout last week, five league teams had three losses or fewer.
Skyview remains the favorite, but there won’t be many pushovers in league play for the Storm.
Kelso and Evergreen, both 7-1, are much improved. The seven wins Evergreen got in December equal the number of wins the Plainsmen tallied in about the previous five seasons.
Those two teams face off in the league opener Friday at Evergreen.
Heritage figures to be right in the hunt for a playoff berth, but Battle Ground could get a jump on the Timberwolves if the Tigers can win at Heritage on Friday.
3A GSHL BOYS: A very interesting and compelling season is heating up in the 3A GSHL.
Hudson’s Bay is 6-2, including a title at the North Marion (Ore.) Tournament last month. Columbia River also is 6-2.
Prairie opened by winning four of five before taking its lumps in four losses at the Les Schwab Invitational. Union, which was missing some players early as they transitioned out of football season, won three consecutive games before the absence of a shot clock contributed to a 36-34 loss at Tualatin, Ore.
And Camas and Fort Vancouver cannot be left out of the discussion.
Put that all together and you can have a wild league season, in which the eventual league champion could possibly end up with three league losses.
3A GSHL GIRLS: Here’s an eerie fact: There were three underclassmen on The Columbian’s All-Region girls basketball first team last season. Since then, all three have suffered ACL injuries — Skyview’s Nikki Bond during the summer, Lindsay Levanen, who transferred from Prairie to Elma before hurting her knee last month, and most recently Prairie’s Heather Corral last week.
Despite the fact that they have now lost three All-Region starters from last year’s roster, the Prairie Falcons remain the team to beat in the 3A GSHL.
That’s because the teams that were expected to possibly push the Falcons have stumbled out of the gates.
Columbia River and Camas both suffered double-digit losses to Skyview and Heritage — two teams Prairie beat by 15 points or better. And Union needs to beat Skyview today to avoid taking a seven-game losing streak into its league opener against Prairie.
2A GSHL BOYS: We’ll make this easy. Circle the dates Jan. 11 and Feb. 5 on your calendars.
Those are the days when Mark Morris faces Hockinson.
No offense to Woodland, Ridgefield and Washougal — all of which have had solid non-league seasons to date. But Mark Morris is the clear favorite in the 2A GSHL, and Hockinson is the one team best prepared to knock off the Monarchs.
Mark Morris opened the season 6-0 before stumbling on Wednesday against Anacortes. Hockinson will take a 6-4 mark into league play, but the Hawks stacked their schedule with tough competition. Hockinson won two of three at the Energy Classic in Wyoming and will spend all of this week getting ready for its league opener in Longview.
2A GSHL GIRLS: This league is a tough one to figure out. Mark Morris (4-4) handed Evergreen its lone loss, but also got buried by Kelso. Hockinson is 2-6, but has played several tight games against 4A and 3A GSHL teams. Ridgefield followed a similar path to a 3-5 mark. And Woodland is 5-3, but played only one team from the 4A GSHL and none from the 3A GSHL.
League play will have to sort this one. I guess that’s what league play is all about.
Tim Martinez is the assistant sports editor/prep coordinator for The Columbian. He can be reached by phone at 360-735-4458 or e-mail at tim.martinez@columbian.com
