Wednesday marked the first official day of the 2018-19 high school basketball season.
A total of 14 teams will be making their way to the capital city to play Juneau-Douglas or Thunder Mountain high schools this season, beginning with the North Pole girls on Thursday, Dec. 13. The Patriots play Thunder Mountain on Thursday and JDHS on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
No team will be traveling farther to get here than Maine-Endwell High School of upstate New York. The Spartans are one of the three visiting schools for the Capital City Classic Dec. 27-29 at JDHS. Lathrop and Barrow will also be partaking in the three-day tournament with the Crimson Bears.
There will be a total of eight crosstown matchups between JDHS and TMHS. The boys teams will face off Jan. 25-26 at JDHS and Feb. 15-16 at TMHS. The girls squads will square off at JDHS Feb. 1-2 and at TMHS March 1-2.
The Ketchikan Kings and Lady Kings will be the only visitors making repeated trips to town. The Ketchikan boys visit Jan. 11-12 to face off against the Crimson Bears and then again Feb. 15-16 to take on the Falcons. On the girls side, Ketchikan plays Thunder Mountain Jan. 25-26 and later JDHS Feb. 22-23.
Other visiting teams include the Colony boys and girls (Jan. 11-12) and Service boys (Feb. 1-2).
The Region V Basketball Championships are March 5-9 in Sitka. The state championships will be March 21-23 in Anchorage.
