Ridgefield High School’s girls and boys basketball teams were both ranked fourth in their respective Top 10 state polls released earlier this week.
The FCIAC has two teams in the GameTimeCT Girls Basketball Top 10 Poll which was released Jan. 11 as St. Joseph moved up two spots from the previous poll to No. 8.
Ridgefield’s unbeaten boys team (4-0), which is looking to win a third consecutive FCIAC championship, is the only FCIAC team in the GameTimeCT Boys Basketball Top 10 Poll which was released Jan. 10.
Bristol Central was 5-0 after games played through last week and received 17 first-place votes from the 18 voting media members to maintain the top spot in the boys poll.
Northwest Catholic (5-1) nipped Windsor, 81-80, last week. That resulted in Northwest Catholic leapfrogging over Windsor and moving up two spots to No. 2. Windsor (4-1) maintained its No. 3 ranking. Northwest Catholic got the other first-place vote.
Ridgefield moved up one spot to No. 4 and received 414 polling points, just two points behind third-ranked Windsor (416 points).
Ridgefield is one of six unbeaten teams in the Top 10.
The final six teams in the boys Top 10 are Notre Dame-West Haven (7-0), East Catholic (4-1), seventh-ranked Norwich Free Academy (7-0), Kolbe Cathedral (4-0), Naugatuck (5-0) and Wilbur Cross (3-2).
Wilton (4-0) and Fairfield Warde (3-1) are the two FCIAC teams in the “Also receiving votes” category as Wilton received the 14th most polling points and Warde the 21st most.
One of the biggest conference games of the regular season occurs this Friday (Jan. 14) when Ridgefield visits Warde for a 6:30 tipoff.
Fairfield Warde lost its only game of the year this past Saturday at home to unbeaten Wilton, 50-44.
Ridgefield will host Wilton on Feb. 11.
Newington remained No. 1 in the GameTimeCT Girls Basketball Top 10 Poll after winning twice last week to improve to 8-0.
The top five girls teams all maintained their same spots from the previous poll.
Newington received 13 first-place votes. Second-ranked Notre Dame-Fairfield (5-2) got four first-place votes while No. 3 Sacred Heart Academy (5-0) got the other first-place vote.
Ridgefield won twice last week to improve to 6-1. The Tigers suffered their only loss Dec. 29 to top-ranked Newington, 51-40, in the championship game of the inaugural Tyler Ugolyn Memorial Tournament. That holiday tournament hosted by Ridgefield honors the memory of Tyler Ugolyn, a former standout student-athlete at Ridgefield High School who died in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Ugolyn was a star basketball player for Ridgefield in the mid-1990s who went on to play at Columbia University, where he graduated from in 2001.
The Ridgefield girls team was followed in the Top 10 by fifth-ranked Holy Cross (5-0), Daniel Hand (4-1), Southington (6-0), eighth-ranked St. Joseph (5-1), Simsbury (7-1) and East Hartford (6-1).
Fairfield Ludlowe (4-1) got the 19th most polling points, Trumbull (3-2) the 22nd most and Stamford (4-3) the 26th most as the three FCIAC teams among the 16 total teams statewide in the “Others receiving votes” category.
Ludlowe has quite the pivotal stretch from Jan. 20-Feb. 4 as the Falcons have home games against all four of the other conference teams which received votes in the state poll.
After Ridgefield plays at Trumbull on Jan. 17, Trumbull visits Fairfield Ludlowe on Jan. 20. Ludlowe then hosts St. Joseph on Jan. 24, Ridgefield on Feb. 1, and Stamford on Feb. 4.
Ridgefield plays at St. Joseph in the last game of the regular season on Feb. 16.