The national girls basketball showcase in Cherokee, N.C., this week has not been especially kind to the three Alabama teams competing in three of the four brackets of the Cherokee Invitational.

Second-ranked Class 6A Hazel Green dropped its fifth game of the season – one more than the Trojans lost in last year’s seventh straight state championship campaign – on Thursday after opening the tournament with a win. Hazel Green is 12-5 headed into today’s final game against 8-1 Lake Norman of Mooresville, N.C., set for 2:30 p.m.