With the Yadkin Valley Conference basketball season entering the final three weeks of the regular season, the race for the championships is tight.

The conference leaders in both the boys’ and girls’ races are only one game up in the loss column, with the South Davidson girls leading West Montgomery and North Rowan ahead of Albemarle in the boys’ standings.

Both the Lady Wildcats (13-2 overall) and Cavaliers are sporting 9-0 league marks (14-3), while West Montgomery is 7-1 (7-3) and the Bulldogs are 8-1 in league play and 12-1 overall.

The race for the title should take better shape this week with South Davidson visiting the Lady Warriors Wednesday and the Bulldogs traveling to Spencer for a showdown against North Rowan the following day.

The Bulldogs’ lone loss on the season was to the Cavaliers in their first game of the season. Since then Albemarle has run off 12 straight victories in their overall schedule.

The North Rowan versus Albemarle game should be an interesting one pitting the Cavaliers, as the league’s top scoring team with an average of more than 73 points per game, against the Bulldogs, the conference’s top defensive team that is giving up only 42.3 points per game.

In the girls’ showdown Wednesday at West Montgomery, the host Warriors are the top girls’ defensive team, allowing only 42.5 points per game, while South Davidson is the second highest scoring team in the league, averaging 59 points per contest. The North Moore girls’ team is averaging slightly more than the Wildcats, with a 59.8 average.

There were some interesting games this past week. One was the North Rowan girls (7-2, 7-7) cementing their hold on third place with an 85-81 overtime victory at North Moore (6-4, 11-6), despite conference player of the year candidate, senior Jalisa Davis, scoring 47 points for the Lady Mustangs. The point total is believed by many people near the North Moore basketball program to be a school record for points scored in a game.

The Mustang girls bounced back two nights later for an important win at Chatham Central (5-4, 6-9) by a 56-32 score keeping them in fourth place and the Lady Bears in fifth place.

In the second half of the doubleheader at Bear Creek, the visiting Mustang boys needed a last-second bucket from Quashan Davis for a 61-60 victory. North Moore is currently 6-4 in conference action and 9-8 overall while the Bears suffered another close loss at home to leave them 2-7 in league play and 3-11 overall.

The West Montgomery boys continued to hold on to third place with a 6-2 mark (7-6 overall) while North Moore is fourth with East Montgomery following in fifth place with a 5-4 mark and 8-8 overall. South Stanly is very much in the boys’ race for one of the berths in the upper echelon with a 4-5 record (5-10 overall). South Davidson is 1-8 and 1-14 while Gray Stone is stilling looking for its first win of the season with a 0-10 conference record and 0-17 overall.

In the girls’ standings, Albemarle is starting to make some moves with an overtime win over South Stanly. The Lady Bulldogs are currently in sixth place with a 3-6 record and 4-10 overall while East Montgomery is seventh at 2-7 and 2-11, South Stanly eighth at 1-8 and 2-13 and Gray Stone bringing up the rear with a 1-9 league mark and 4-13 overall.

Jalisa Davis’ 47 points against North Rowan and 32 points at Chatham Central increased her lead in the individual scoring race, now averaging 25.1 points per game. She is also the top three-point shooter with 41. Davis is averaging more than three points more than last year’s conference player of the year Akela Branch of Albemarle.

Branch’s scoring average is 21.9 and she is also second in the league in rebounding with 14.7 per game. West Montgomery’s Latoya Cuthrell is pulling down 15.5 rebounds per game and is also averaging a double-double, scoring 15.1 points per game. Albemarle’s Kyleigh McLendon is second in three-point shooting with 29, followed by North Rowan’s Special Washington with 23 and Taylor Sells 20.

In the boys’ individual scoring race, North Rowan’s Oshon West is leading the league, scoring more than 18 points per game. Second is Chatham Central’s Zack Burke with an average of 16.3 per game. He is also the conference’s leading rebounder with 9.9 boards per game. North Moore’s Quashan Davis has improved his average to 15.2 per game, third in the scoring race. Davis also leads the conference with 37 three-pointers, with South Stanly’s Wes Smith second with 20 treys and Chatham Central’s Jeremy Kerr with 19.