The Webster Groves basketball team has done it again.
With their 84-66 victory against visiting Kirkwood on Friday, the Statesmen clinched a share of their 11th straight Suburban South Conference championship and extended their win streak in league play to 79 games.
"We lost so much from last year," coach Jay Blossom said. "The conference is so much better. Because the conference is better, I think so many other schools in our conference thought they had a legitimate chance to beat us this year. For us to show up the way we have for at least the first six conference games and to take care of business the way we have is what makes it really special."
The Statesmen (20-4), No. 6 in the STLhighschoolsports.com large-schools rankings, can push that win streak to 80 with a victory against visiting Parkway Central (15-8 overall, 5-1 in league play) on Friday.
"It's a fun group to coach," Blossom said. "We were off (Sunday), and we had nine kids up at the gym for two hours shooting. My phone blows up on days we don't practice with kids wanting to get into the gym. I think they kind of had a chip that a lot of people thought we weren't going to be as good as we have been. They've been very determined to prove all those people wrong."
Among Webster's nine seniors are Rayshawn Simmons (15.6 points per game), Demetrius Robinson (15.3) and Peter Fairbanks (14), a trio that has helped the Statesmen win at least 20 games for the ninth straight season.
Simmons is also closing in on 1,000 career points. He has 989 points going into Tuesday's game against visiting Jackson. He could become the 15th Webster Groves player to top 1,000.
LAFAYETTE, PARKWAY SOUTH AIM FOR SUBURBAN WEST TITLE
The Suburban West Conference race will come down to the final week.
If Parkway South (18-6) and Lafayette (16-7) both win Tuesday -- Lafayette hosts Lindbergh;Â South hosts Northwest -- it would set up a conference title game Friday at South.
The same scenario unfolded a year ago, when Lafayette and Oakville tied for the top spot and South finished third.
"When you see them coming up on the schedule, you know there's something on the line," Lafayette coach Scott Allen said of Parkway South. "It will be pretty fun."
Parkway South has won six of its last seven games. Lafayette has won six straight since losing to Parkway South 59-48 in the third-place game at the Ameritime Classic on Dec. 27.
Lafayette has been the top team in the conference for most of the past 10 seasons. Before Oakville won the league title outright in 2010, Lafayette had won at least a share of the conference crown for six straight seasons.
"All teams have goals, but that's one of the things we've been talking about since before school started, was keeping that going," Allen said. "My numbers could be wrong, but I think in eight of the last nine (years) we've either won or had a share in the conference championship."
Lafayette senior guard Joel Pennington, who averages a team-high 14.5 points, recently broke the school record for assists set by former Post-Dispatch All-Metro player of the year Landon Shipley in 2005. Pennington has 378 assists. He also holds the school record with 175 3-pointers.
GAC SOUTH TITLE TO BE DECIDED
The GAC South championship will be decided Friday when Holt (12-12) travels to Troy (18-7) in the final regular-season game for both squads.
Troy and Holt are 4-1 in GAC South play. The teams shared the top spot in the conference a year ago, when both went 5-1. Troy and Francis Howell shared the league title in 2010. Troy won it outright in 2009.
Troy had a seven-game win streak snapped Friday with a 59-52 loss at Francis Howell. Holt followed up a loss at Fort Zumwalt West on Jan. 3 with a 60-48 win against Howell North on Thursday.
SOUTHWESTERN SHOWDOWN SET FOR TUESDAY
Collinsville (21-3 overall, 9-1 in league play) will host Edwardsville (17-4, 8-2) on Tuesday in a matchup of the top two teams in the Southwestern Conference.
Collinsville beat Edwardsville 61-54 on Dec. 2. The Kahoks have won four straight and nine of their last 10, and Edwardsville has won 10 straight.
Both teams will have three more conference games remaining after Tuesday. Collinsville will play Granite City and Belleville East at home and then plays at Belleville West. Edwardsville has home games remaining against East St. Louis and O'Fallon and a road game at Alton.
