By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

The Helena Huskies boys basketball team is being shown some love in the latest MaxPreps Alabama High School Basketball state rankings.

Currently sitting at 13-1, MaxPreps has Helena as the No. 3 team in the state of Alabama in the latest Dec. 22 rankings.

The Huskies trail only Huffman and Mountain Brook for the No. 1 spot and no other team from Shelby County can be found in the top 25. The rankings are released twice per week.

Since dropping their first game of the season to McAdory on Dec. 11, Helena has rebounded with wins against Chilton County, James Clemens and Hueytown. The Huskies have also defeated Sipsey Valley and Scottsboro in the Fort Payne Tournament which ends on Dec. 22.

One of the Huskies’ biggest strengths is its depth. Helena uses as many as 10 players per game to help contribute valuable minutes to provide quality depth on both ends of the floor.

Helena head coach Chris Laatsch is off to his best start in year four with the program as the Huskies will soon dive into region play against tough opponents like Pelham and Chelsea.

The MaxPreps high school basketball rankings uses a variety of factors when determining its weekly rankings. This includes number of wins, quality wins and strength of schedule among others.

To view the entire basketball rankings for the state of Alabama from Dec. 22, visit Maxpreps.com/rankings/basketball/1/state/alabama.htm.