Tuesday night's top high school basketball games

Record Sports Editor Chris Hobbs’ picks for tonight’s top high school basketball games in the Greater Hickory area (girls’ games tip at about 6:15 p.m., boys’ games follow):

GIRLS

Alexander Central (9-3, 2-0) at Hickory (12-1, 1-0): No one has to explain to head coach Matt Taylor’s vastly improved Cougars that winning the Northwestern 3A-4A title ultimately means having to beat the Red Tornadoes.

Hickory lost way more talent from last year’s team than the Cougars lost from theirs.

But as Taylor notes, getting players to believe they can be champions is a big part of the challenge when your program hasn’t played in a state playoff game in nearly two decades.

“It seems like every time you do something positive, it’s for the first time in forever,” Taylor said prior to the Catawba Valley Classic, where his second-seeded team finished third.

Hickory has won 16 straight league games, and it’s been a very long time since the Cougars beat Hickory in girls’ basketball.

Since Alexander Central won 41-39 in a Catawba Valley Classic game in December of 2009, the Red Tornadoes have won 24 consecutive games over the Cougars.

Newton-Conover (9-3, 1-1) at East Burke (9-3, 2-0): It’s early in the Catawba Valley Athletic 2A schedule, but this is a big game for Newton-Conover.

The Red Devils probably can’t afford to fall two games behind unbeaten Bandys this early in the chase for the conference title.

East Burke’s a tough place to play. The Cavs whipped Newton-Conover by 17 points last season at East Burke, and they’ve split the last six games played there.

It’s also a rematch of a sectional title game last season, won 61-42 by the Red Devils on their home floor, and that sent Newton-Conover back to the West 2A Regionals.

East Burke, which has been within one win of making a West Regional five times since 1990, is up 8-7 in the last 15 battles with Newton-Conover.

BOYS

Alexander Central (8-4, 2-0) at Hickory (11-2, 1-0): The Cougars and Red Tornadoes meet for the second time in six days and could offer up another thriller.

Hickory won the Catawba Valley Classic title 67-64 on a last-play 3-pointer by Raheim Connelly last Thursday night, running the Red Tornadoes’ win streak in the series to 10.

They played four times a year ago with winning margins of nine, two, nine and 15 points.

Hickory won a two overtime game in last year’s Classic 83-74, then beat the Cougars 40-38 at Hickory a few days later in a league game.

The Red Tornadoes have had Alexander Central’s number of late – 15 wins in the last 19 battles – but the series rivals any others for excitement with eight of those games decided by eight or fewer points.

St. Stephens (9-5, 1-1) at Hibriten (8-2, 1-1): The Northwestern 3A-4A foes have split their regular-season series each of the last three seasons.

As the league race begins to take shape, avoiding a second conference loss this early could be the most important factor on Tuesday night.

Hibriten won by six at home last season and the Indians won their home game against the Panthers by five.

It’s been a back and forth series for four years now (the last sweep belonging to the Indians in 2006-2007) and it could be close again, with the average win margin of their last nine matchups at seven points.

LOOKING AHEAD

Two Friday night games you might want to consider attending:

-- West Caldwell, the defending boys’ champion in the Catawba Valley Athletic 2A, travels to Icard to play East Burke, this year’s favorite to win the conference title.

-- Hickory’s girls, league champions in six of head coach Barbara Helms’ eight years there, play at South Caldwell.

Going into Tuesday’s games, the Spartans are the last Northwestern 3A-4A team to beat the Red Tornadoes, 73-72 in late January of 2010 at Hickory.