#A10WBB: The Road To RVA Begins In Earnest.....

The New Year's weekend is loaded with Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball action as both the Richmond Spiders and VCU Rams get home games to end 2016 and begin 2017 respectively.

Richmond, in its conference opener, will face a perennial power who has struggled mightily in its non-conference schedule, as the Saint Joseph's Hawks come to the Robins Center for a 2pm tip on Saturday.

Meanwhile, VCU, already 0-1 in conference play because of a loss at George Washington in early December, will host one of the biggest conference surprises early on in La Salle, who won their conference opener in December, for a Sunday afternoon affair at 1pm at the Siegel Center.

Follow @TheRVASportsNet on Twitter both Saturday and Sunday for live coverage of both the Spiders and Rams, then join us on Twitter Thursday night when the two conference, and city, rivals collide in the first of two meetings at Siegel Center at 7pm!

RVA Sports Network, proud to be your Richmond-area home for coverage of all of Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball, culminating with the 2017 Atlantic 10 Basketball Championship at the Richmond Coliseum March 4th through 6th!

LISTEN LIVE: The Southerner Classic Championship

RVA Sports Network concludes its biggest broadcast year ever with the Girls and Boys Championships at The Southerner Holiday Classic live from Lee-Davis High School as the host Confederates face Pasquotank, North Carolina in the girls final at 5:30pm followed by Colonial Heights and Caroline for the boys title.

Listen to the games exclusively on RVA Sports Network on the YouTube Player below!

LISTEN LIVE: Henrico Holiday Hoops Championship!

Use the YouTube Player below to listen live to the following Henrico Holiday Hoops Tournament games on The RVA Sports Network Thursday:

5:30pm: 3rd Place Game: Matoaca vs. Collegiate
7:15pm: Championship: #2 Trinity Episcopal vs. #6 Henrico

WEDNESDAY: Twitter Coverage of Holiday Hoops!

Tournaments galore today from Henrico and Clover Hill to Benedictine, Petersburg and Douglas Freeman, plus more area teams playing out of town. We'll have updates across our Twitter network today.

Our network, you ask?

@hanoversports follows all Hanover County schools and Randolph-Macon College
@henricosports follows all nine Henrico County schools
@cfieldsports follows all ten Chesterfield County schools and Virginia State
@TheRVASportsNet follows schools in Richmond, the Tri-Cities and surrounding counties, plus VCU, Richmond, Virginia Union, other college and pro sports, AND we frequently retweet our hyper-local feeds to keep you updated on those schools.

Only follow what you want! No need to weed through scores you don't care about. Hyper-local coverage is an exclusive on Twitter to The RVA Sports Network!

Be sure to keep up with all of today's action as well on "Holiday Tournament Central", only from The RVA Sports Network, by....

CLICKING HERE!

Listen Live: Henrico Holiday Hoops First Round!

Click the embedded YouTube player below to listen to today's first round quadruple-header live on The RVA Sports Network from Henrico Holiday Hoops 2016:

Live Broadcast Schedule:

2:30: James River vs. Matoaca
4:00: J.R. Tucker vs. #7 Henrico
5:30: Steward vs. Collegiate
7:15: #2 Trinity Episcopal vs. South Lakes

Deep Run Girls Tennis: RVA Sports Network Team Of The Year!

Our voters have spoken and have named a team dominated by freshman phenoms as the 2016 RVA Sports Network High School Team of The Year!

Out of fourteen nominees, all state champions, it was the Wildcats of Deep Run Girls Tennis who won the title, dominating the voting. Results are below.

Congratulations, Deep Run!


1) Deep Run Girls Tennis: 1,450 votes (48 percent)
2) Highland Springs Football: 621 votes (20 percent)
3) Mills Godwin Girls Soccer: 518 votes (17 percent)
4) Patrick Henry Boys Volleyball: 251 votes (8 percent)
5) Atlee Softball: 56 votes
6) Hanover Baseball: 21 votes
7) Monacan Girls Basketball: 15 votes
8) Monacan Boys Basketball: 14 votes
9) Maggie Walker Baseball: 12 votes
10) James River Boys Volleyball: 6 votes
11) Cosby Girls Basketball: 5 votes
12T) Midlothian Girls Tennis: 2 votes
         Collegiate Football: 2 votes
         Monacan Boys Volleyball: 2 votes

New RVA Sports Network Top 10 High School Basketball Polls!

We have some changes in light of the first week of the 2016 Holiday Feast of Hoops! See below for how teams have shifted in both the boys and girls polls after the Times-Dispatch Invitational Tournament, the Jaguar Jamboree, and the Hermitage Winter Classic.

BOYS:

1) L.C. Bird (was #1)
2) Trinity Episcopal (was #3)
3) Monacan (was #2)
4) John Marshall (was #5)
5) Mills Godwin (was #6)
6) Henrico (was #7)
7) Varina (was #4)
8) Highland Springs (was #9)
9) St. Christopher's (was #10)
10) Hopewell (was #8)

NOTES: The impressive work of Trinity Episcopal gives them the nod to rise to #2 for the first time, upending Monacan, though still unbeaten. The Titans get a chance at another holiday title this coming week at Henrico Holiday Hoops (be sure to listen live on The RVA Sports Network!). At holiday tournament time, you can lose a game and still improve your standing depending upon how other teams fare, explaining the rise of John Marshall and Mills Godwin, and, with two recent losses, a slight fall for Varina. But the Blue Devils are still a high-level team. There may have been no one in Virginia who could have beaten Trinity Monday night at the Times-Dispatch Invitational Tournament Championship. Keep an eye on Benedictine, who although just 2-6, nearly knocked off Trinity and can improve that record at their own Capital City Classic this week.

GIRLS:

1) Monacan (was #1)
2) Highland Springs (was #2)
3) Trinity Episcopal (was #3)
4) St. Catherine's (was #5)
5) J.R. Tucker (was #6)
6) Hopewell (was #4)
7) Cosby (was #7)
8) James River (was #8)
9) L.C. Bird (was #10)
10) Varina (new)

Dropping Out: Huguenot

NOTES: Monacan remains unbeaten after another big set of wins out of town, this time winning the Crescom Bank Invitational in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, while Highland Springs captured their third consecutive T-DIT title. Trinity Episcopal, who was impressive in the T-DIT finals, holds to #3, while St. Catherine's moves up with a third place finish, and so does unbeaten J.R. Tucker, the champions of the first Hermitage Winter Classic. At that tourney, Varina went 2-1 and has put people on notice that they will battle Highland Springs and L.C. Bird in Conference 12. J.R. Tucker, who only achilles heel right now is lack of depth, is, right now, the best team in Conference 11.