Moving into the 2015 portion of the basketball schedules finds both Jefferson High teams mostly finished with the Christian school and private school teams on their slates and going through the Eastern Panhandle matchups that will determine the seeding for the Class AAA Sectional tournaments.

The Jefferson boys defeated homestanding Spring Mills on Saturday to improve their overall record to 6-3. The Cougars own wins over Legacy Christian, Silver Oak Academy, Broadfording Academy and Cesar Chavez from the non-public school teams they have seen. There has also been a win in the Martinsburg Mixer.

The three Jefferson losses were to Joppatowne (Md.), Northwestern (Md.) and in a game in the Martinsburg Mixer.

Among the six teams in Jefferson and Berkeley County, no clear favorite or dominant team has arisen. Jefferson’s 6-3 overall record is the best with Martinsburg showing a 5-3 record, Hedgesville at 5-4, Spring Mills at 4-5 and Washington and Musselman struggling along with losing records.

The Jefferson girls are off to a 7-2 beginning to their season. The wins have been against St. James, Eastern Mennonite, Springs Mills, Hampshire, two close victories in the “Jefferson Mixer” and another win in the “Spring Mills Mixer”.

The two losses came at Greenbrier East and in the “Spring Mills Mixer”.

Washington’s girls have suffered several losses by nearly 60 and 70 points (Sherando twice and Martinsburg), and now get into the thick of their schedule against Class AAA Eastern Panhandle public schools.

The Patriot boys are seeing the effects of losing so many seniors — their top six players — from last year’s once-beaten team.

Losses have been dealt the Patriots by Sherando (twice), Fairmont Senior, Southern (Md.), Martinsburg and Greenbrier East. In the pre-Christmas part of the schedule, Washington beat James Wood.

At Shepherd, the men’s team was 10-4 going into this week’s Mountain East Conference games. The Rams were 5-3 in league games and return home on Saturday to face Wheeling Jesuit at 4 p.m. in the Butcher Center.

The Shepherd women were also 10-4 overall moving to this week’s conference games. However, the Rams are tied for first place in the 12-school conference with a 7-1 Mountain East log. On Saturday at 2 p.m., the Rams will play conference rival Wheeling Jesuit in the Butcher Center.

Both Shepherd teams will play West Liberty at the Butcher Center on Feb. 12. West Liberty’s men and women defeated Shepherd last Thursday in the Northern Panhandle and West Liberty’s unbeaten men are ranked No. 1 in the nation in the NCAA Division II ranks.