TOP OF THE CROP

Girls basketball 1:

2: (2) Brush 8-5 3: (4) Kenston 10-2 4: (8) Chardon 11-6 5: 6: 7: (7) Beaumont 9-7 8: (1) Perry 16-2 (6) Gilmour 12-7 (3) North 5-4 (9) Cornerstone 10-9 9: (NR) Hawken 8-2 10: (5) West Geauga 4-2

Dropped out: NDCL

Watch list: Kirtland, NDCL, Andrews Osborne, Madison, Mayfield

Crop comments: A few upsets this week not only cause changes in the Crop, but also bring up dilemmas on how to weigh rises and lowers. Chardon beat Perry and North this week, but also lost to Madison in the past 10 days. Brush has five losses, but has played a brutal schedule. Perry lost to Chardon this week, but its body of work counts for something. And Hawken has a marquee win over West G, but lost to Kirtland earlier this week. It’s tough to weigh what win or loss outweighs the other. So that being said, we’ll stick with Perry at 1and Brush at 2 based on what they’ve done all year — not necessarily one game . ... Kenston moves up to No. 3this week, but has a big test Feb. 3at No. 2Brush . ... Chardon takes a big jump from No. 8to No. 4with its big week, and deservedly so . ... Gilmour moves up to No. 5with wins over Akron SVSM and Walsh. The Lancers are improving every time out . ... North lost back-to-back games for the first time in a while (to Kenston and Chardon), so the Rangers drop a bit with a game against South on the docket next . ... Beaumont stays at No. 7with a win over Andrews Osborne, which is very formidable at 5-6and could be Crop-worthy . ... Cornerstone moves up a slot to No. 8after a win over AOA . ... Hawken lost early in the season to Kirtland, but it makes a Crop appearance after an impressive win over West Geauga, which drops to No. 10. But the Wolverines got off to a late start, so don’t sleep on that team. West G is veteran and is just getting its legs.