Beverly Boys, Peabody Girls Hoop Teams Fight For Playoff Position

BEVERLY, MA — With less than a week to go before the cutoff day for state tournament records, high school teams throughout the North Shore are vying for higher seeds and home playoff games in the latest MIAA power rankings released on Friday.

All regular-season games in basketball and hockey must be completed by the end of the night on Thursday in order to be included in the power rankings, postseason records and qualification requirements.

All games reported will be included in the final power rankings formulated on Feb. 24 with the tournament brackets released on Feb. 25. Boys and girls hockey brackets are scheduled for release at 10 a.m. on that day with boys and girls basketball set for 1 p.m.

Rankings are based on team record, the margin of victory up to 10 points and strength of schedule.

The Beverly boys basketball team is looking for a top 8 seed in Division 1 with a No. 9 ranking and a 13-5 record as of Friday. Peabody is also 13-5 but is 26th in power rankings, largely based on strength of opponents.

The Marblehead boys basketball team is 9-4 and ranked No. 11 in Division 2, with Salem close behind at 10-4 at No. 13.

The Salem Academy Charter boys basketball team has a 16-3 record this season and is ranked No. 10 in Division 5.

The Peabody girls basketball team has a sterling record of 13-2 this season and is ranked No. 31 among Division 1 teams.

The Salem Academy girls basketball team is 16-3 and No. 34 in Division 5.

The perennial powerhouse. John's Prep boys hockey team is looking for a top seed in Division 1 with the Eagles No. 2 at 14-2-1 as of Friday.

Marblehead is having a strong year in Division 2 boys with an 11-4-3 record and a No. 7 ranking this week.

Essex North Shore has been a force in Division 3 boys hockey at 15-1-1 with a No. 9 ranking.

The Swampscott boys hockey team is 10-7 this year and ranked No. 19 in Division 4.

Peabody is one of the top girls hockey teams in the state this year with a 14-3 record that puts the team at No. 6 in Division 1. Beverly is 10-5-1 and No. 21 in D1 girls.

The full MIAA power rankings as of Friday can be found here.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)