MJ returns to No. 1

Mt. Juliet returned to the top of the Associated Press Class AAA girl's basketball poll Monday.
The Lady Bears ascended one notch to No. 1 with a 62-59 win over No. 7 Smyrna last Friday while Shelbyville swapped positions with the Lady Bears following a 54-50 setback to Lawrence County on the same night.
Mt. Juliet (20-1) received 13 first-place votes and 189 points to a 21-point lead over the Eaglettes (20-3), who got three firsts. It's the first appearance at No. 1 for the Lady Bears since they went wire-to-wire on their way to the state championship in 2005.
Wilson Central (17-3), the '06 champ, moved up a slot to No. 5 with 107 points. The Lady Wildcats will travel to Shelbyville in a rematch of last year's state final, on Saturday night.
In the meantime, Central will go to District 9-AAA rival Beech tonight while Mt. Juliet hosts Hendersonville in a league matchup, both at 6:30 p.m.
Also tonight, Lebanon visits White County at 6:30 p.m. in District 7-AAA while Mt. Juliet Christian journeys to Westmoreland for a 6 p.m. District 8-A double header.
Watertown will step out of the district tonight with a trip to Red Boiling Springs, whose girls are No. 3 in Class A, at 6:30 p.m.
Friendship Christian, which hosted Portland on Monday, is off tonight.