Season on the line in area tournament for Rebels

High school basketball seasons come down to one game when the area tournaments roll around.

The Vestavia Hills High School boys and girls teams will compete in the Class 7A, Area 6 Tournament this week.

The boys team is the No. 3 seed, and will face No. 2 Mountain Brook on Thursday, Feb. 11, at 6 p.m. 

Spain Park is the host of the tournament, by way of winning a tiebreaker with Mountain Brook for top seed in the area. If the Rebels can get by the Spartans on Thursday, they will face the winner between Spain Park and Hewitt-Trussville on Saturday, Feb. 13, at 7:30 p.m.

The Lady Rebels will play at Mountain Brook, who ran through the area with a 6-0 record. As the No. 4 seed, Vestavia will play the Lady Spartans on Tuesday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m.

The winner of that game will face Hewitt-Trussville or Mountain Brook on Friday at 7 p.m.

In high school basketball, teams qualify for the postseason by finishing in the top two of their respective area tournaments. So, the formula is simple. Win the first game of the area tournament, and the Rebels are in the playoffs. Lose, and the season is over.