Is it just me or are the number of injuries in this year's Tri-Nine Conference basketball season through the roof?

Our area community sports editors have been busy all week covering their conference tournaments and posting who will finish where. Now, it's time to put all the conference championships scheduled for tonight under one roof. Or in this case, one blog.

Here's the who, what and when for the Tri-Nine, Cap-8, Greater Neuse, PAC-6, Carolina 6, Eastern Carolina, Cape Fear Valley, Northern Carolina, Carolina 10, Carolina 1-A and TISAC conference championships going down tonight...

RALEIGH – Here’s our rapid reaction after Ravenscroft defeated Middle Creek 59-57 Wednesday night in a nonconference game:

HOW THE GAME WAS WON

Ravenscroft surrendered its lead late in the fourth quarter only to have guard Anton Gill (pictuted left) make a fadeaway three-pointer at the buzzer to win the game. Madison Jones was the difference in the final play as he was able penetrate into the lane to bring Gill’s defender over to cover him. That allowed Gill to be wide open in the corner to make his three-point basket just before the buzzer sounded.

TURNING POINT

This is a tough one to call, but Middle Creek gave Ravenscroft a chance to win the game by going to quickly on its final possession. The Mustangs were trailing by one with less than a minute left and could have held the ball for the final shot. Instead guard Donta Davis was fouled by going to the basket with 17 seconds left. Although Davis made both free throws to give the Mustangs the lead, it also allowed Gill to have time to make his game-winning shot.

STAT OF THE GAME

Gill is a very good shooter from behind the ach as he averages 53 percent from three before tonight’s game. Gill had plenty of chances to make three-pointers, but his one at the buzzer was his only three-pointer of the game.

APEX - For the third straight year, the Middle Creek-Lee County football game was decided by three or fewer points.

Also for the third straight year, Middle Creek (6-1, 4-0) came away the victor in this Tri-Nine Conference match-up, winning 21-20.

There's just one week in the season, so it's time to get you caught up on the playoff picture.

Football season is right around the corner, folks. August 21, the first night of high school football, can't get here soon enough. With that date in mind, let's break down each of the 2009 opening night games in the Tri-Nine Conference, which adds Holly Springs to the mix this year.

While our area men's teams are losing a ton of seniors, almost every area girls team returns just about everybody. In fact, only two of the 12 players named to the Tri-Eight All-Conference teams will graduate (Cary's Kelsey Campbell and Athens Drive's Alyx Ingram). In some ways, next year's girls basketball teams will resemble the competition that we saw this year from the boys. There's one clear frontrunner (Apex) but a number of talented squads with a chance to go deep next postseason.

Real quickly, here is how I think our teams will finish next season. You never know what will happen with high schools though. Kids move in, kids move away, kids get reassigned or they just quit the sport altogether. But let's just say for sake of conversation that everything remains the same. Here is how I think they'll finish in their respective conferences: