PORT ARTHUR — History has been on the side of Port Arthur Memorial this school year in football and now in girls basketball.

The Memorial girls have clinched a playoff spot from District 21-5A. With three games to play, head coach Kevin Henry has the Lady Titans in a good position to possibly win their first district title in program history.

If the Lady Titans do clinch the district, it will be despite a brutal final week that sees them play at North Shore and Channelview before closing with Beaumont West Brook at home on Feb. 7. The Lady Titans pulled out a 44-37 victory over North Shore at home on Jan. 13 and beat Channelview 57-42 on Jan 17.

Oh, and Memorial hasn’t lost in six straight games after dropping its district opener to La Porte. We know that, however, so let’s look at who the Lady Titans might face in the first round of the playoffs.

If Memorial holds onto the top seed from 21-5A, they are in line to play the fourth-place team from 22-5A. Right now, that’s Pasadena South Houston, but Pasadena Memorial and Pasadena Dobie are also possibilities there.

If the Lady Titans drop Tuesday’s game at North Shore, they could fall all the way down to the third seed and play either Pasadena Rayburn or Deer Park. A win against North Shore would give the Lady Titans a two-game lead over both the Lady Mustangs and Channelview, almost assuring that Memorial will finish in the top half of 21-5A.

That would also be a first for the program, as the Lady Titans have never finished higher than third since their first season in 2002-2003. That’s quite an accomplishment for a first-year head coach in Henry, especially since this is not a team loaded down with seniors.

Which means Henry may not be done taking his team to the top of 21-5A any time soon.

Game of the Week

While there are plenty of great matchups this week in the Mid and South County schedules, the game with the most eyes on it will easily be a classic rematch between the Silsbee and Hardin-Jefferson boys at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

If you don’t remember, Silsbee dealt H-J its first (and only) loss of the season in a 59-56 game on Jan. 13. That game was on Silsbee’s home court, so the Tigers will have to go to Hardin-Jefferson in an attempt to stay undefeated in district play.

The Tigers have averaged 78.5 points since beating H-J while the Hawks have averaged 79.3 points over that same stretch. A Silsbee victory would virtually clinch the District 21-3A for the Tigers, but it looks like both teams will be heading into the playoffs this season.

Last time, H-J entered with a higher ranking at No. 1 in the TABC poll while Silsbee was at No. 7. It looks like Silsbee will hold that honor this time around, coming in at No. 4 with H-J a step behind at No. 5.

English closing in on 250 wins

We have talked about Nederland head coach Brian English’s accomplishments with the Bulldogs, including a now 28-game winning streak in district play. However, one thing I failed to mention was that English is approaching a pretty significant coaching milestone.

The former Vidor head coach is getting close to his 250th career victory. English won 120 games in seven seasons at Vidor and has now won 124 games with the Bulldogs. That’s a couple less than I had him down for last week, but it’s because I went through the archives and found Nederland’s final record from 2006-2007. At 9-23, that was two victories off what I had.

It looks like the mistake may have been made in the story I found by flipping Lumberton and Nederland’s records with four games to play. As of Feb. 1, 2007, Nederland and Lumberton were tied in the district standings, but the Bulldogs were 8-20 and Lumberton was 11-18.

That doesn’t take anything away from what English has done at Nederland, but it will put his quest for 250 victories on hold a little longer than I first anticipated. To get there now, the Bulldogs will have to win at least one playoff game if they go undefeated the rest of the way. Since they have tough road trips to Livingston, Beaumont Central and Beaumont Ozen coming up, expecting an undefeated mark may be tough. But, a 4-1 mark is very doable, leaving 250 in sight of the first couple rounds of the playoffs. Stay tuned...

It also looks like Memorial head coach Travis Williams will have to wait until next season to hit the 250-win mark. Williams won 210 games in eight seasons at Silsbee and has 13 in his first season at Memorial.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, English hasn’t lost to rival PN-G in 12 career district games at Nederland.

Jayce Nelson may be back this week

The Indians just can’t seem to catch a break this season. Every time it looks like they are making progress and might turn the quarter, they suffer another setback. The latest has been dealing with Jayce Nelson’s broken hand.

Nelson initially injured his hand at the Bridge City tournament held over the holidays. The early diagnosis was not as serious, so Nelson continued to play and practice with it for two weeks. At that point, it was re-examined and the break was discovered.

Nelson will go back to the doctors this week with the possibility that he will be cleared to play Friday at Beaumont Ozen. The senior scored 26 points against Nederland in the first Mid-County Madness matchup. Since only one Indian player scored in double-figures Friday, it’s safe to say the Indians missed him the second time around.

Pham’s blocked, but made, trey

How ridiculously hot were the Indians during the fourth quarter of Mid-County Madness on Friday?

Brandon Pham’s 3-pointer with 49 seconds left started out with Nederland guard Jamiere Rogers’ hand on the ball. Rogers played it well and should have had at least deflected the shot.

However, Pham’s follow-through was good enough to make sure the ball found nothing but net, making it 42-41 PN-G.

Big week for Titans

It’s a good time for the Titan basketball program, as both the boys and the girls find themselves in playoff position with just a few weeks left in the regular season. This week, though, will serve as a tough test for the Memorial boys.

First up for the Titans is District 21-5A-leading and No. 14 North Shore, playing at Memorial Gym on Tuesday. The Titans will follow that up by hosting second-place Channelview (15-8, 4-1) on Friday.

Memorial is riding a three-game winning streak but will be sorely tested in these two matchups. The Titans lost 68-49 at North Shore in the district opener this season and then dropped a 64-53 game to Channelview that same week.

That Channelview loss was the last of five straight games that Memorial gave up at least 60 points. In the last three games, the Titans have only given up 60 once, and that was in a 62-60 victory over Baytown Sterling on Friday.

North Shore is having a very good season, losing just three games all season. The Mustangs haven’t lost since Dec. 30 in the Kingwood Tournament. They have also scored at least 60 point in seven straight games, meaning the Titan defense will be put to the test early and often next week.

Nederland JV having impressive season

With the Bulldogs up two games on both Central and Ozen, there’s a good chance this young Nederland team will win its third straight district championship.

While the youth of Central’s team may give its fans hope the Jaguars can unseat Nederland next year, it’s easy to overlook the Bulldogs youth, especially on the JV squad. That’s where the Bulldogs were on a pretty nice streak of their own until three games ago.

The JV Bulldogs won their first 22 games, including one against a talented Ozen team. After that, they suffered a bit of a letdown at Little Cypress-Mauriceville and then again at Vidor, making them 23-2 on the season for JV head coach and varsity assistant Bruce Kilchrist.

Considering many of Nederland’s contributors this season are fresh off the JV, expect another bumper crop of players to make varsity debuts next season.

That won’t include sophomore forward DeShawn Washington, who was sent back to the JV team after spending time on varsity. With the renewed health of junior Koby Couron, Washington’s minutes had dwindled, so it’s not a surprising move.