What a difference a week can make. Last week it looked like the race for the Southeastern Conference White Division title was a two-team battle. The contenders: Ypsilanti and Chelsea.

Since then, Chelsea dropped to third in the SEC White standings after losses to Ypsilanti and Skyline while still-undefeated Ypsilanti - which beat Pioneer on Tuesday - has pulled ahead from the pack.

Chelsea’s biggest rival, Dexter, has leapfrogged its neighbors to the west in the division standings. Lucky for the Bulldogs, they don’t have to go gently into the night and can get right back on top of the Dreadnaughts with a win this Friday night.

Chelsea coach Robin Raymond’s thought his team had its mind on its upcoming day off from school rather than the task at hand against Skyline on Tuesday. From Raymond’s comments after the game, one could gather that he didn’t much like a single thing he saw out of his team.

Though Chelsea will have the home-court advantage on Friday, something tells me that a wave of black shirts will take over the visitor’s side bleachers and take that advantage away.

More important than what floor the game is being played on will be the health of Cornell-bound Dexter center Dave LaMore, who has shown the ability to dominate stretches, but who has also not been at 100 percent of late because of an ailing ankle.

With a healthy LaMore in the lineup, I like Dexter in this one. But it’s really hard for me to pick a talented Chelsea team to lose its third consecutive game. No one said picking games was easy. Dexter, 51-49.

BOYS GAMES

Whitmore Lake at Britton-Deerfield (today): The Whitmore Lake boys and girls teams are a combined 0-24 so far this season. Britton-Deerfield, 63-48.

Skyline at Huron: On “Coaches vs. Cancer” night, both teams will wear pink shirts during warm ups, the cheerleaders will be dressed in pink and coaches will wear pink ties. There will also be various fundraisers throughout the night with proceeds going to toward cancer research. Oh yeah, and there will be a game, going on too. Huron, 66-59.

Saline at Pioneer: James Kelly was ejected late in the Ypsilanti game on Tuesday, which means Pioneer will be without its most prolific scorer and defensive threat on Friday. The Pioneers should be O.K. as long as point guard Jimmy Holman is injury-free and healthy … which he hasn’t been lately. Pioneer, 59-52.

Ypsilanti at Lincoln: Last year’s senior-laden matchups between quality teams demonstrated the potential of this cross-town rivalry, but Lincoln simply was not able to reload its lineup the way the Phoenix have. Ypsilanti, 73-61.

GIRLS GAMES

Ypsilanti at Lincoln (today): When these teams played in December, Ypsilanti’s Delisia Morris put up 22 points in a 66-43 victory. Morris has taken more of a secondary role with the emergence of Jasmine Jones (13.1 ppg), but no matter who is putting up the numbers for the purple and gold, the results should be the same. Ypsilanti, 60-47.

Pioneer at Saline: Pioneer beat Saline by 40 points earlier in the season, which is all you really need to know. Saline has lost three straight and Pioneer should make this its third win in a row. Pioneer, 65-45.

Huron at Skyline: The first time these two teams met, Huron won by 61 points and had two players score more points (11) than the entire Eagles squad. Huron, 70-25.

Chelsea at Dexter: Chelsea won on its home court by six the first time around. So ask yourself, is home court advantage worth six points? I say yes. Dexter, 45-44.

Whitmore Lake at Britton-Deerfield: See program record above. Britton-Deerfield, 65-38.

Season record: Pete’s picks: 38-14 (.731); Readers: 39-13 (.750). Last Week: Pete’s picks: 8-2 (.800) Readers: 8-2 (.800)

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.

More upcoming high school basketball games. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. unless noted.

BOYS GAMES

FRIDAY Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice at Father Gabriel Richard, 7:30 p.m. Warren Macomb Christian at Greenhills Milan at New Boston Huron Willow Run at Highland Park Addison at Manchester Westside Christian Academy at Central Academy

GIRLS GAMES

TODAY Flat Rock at Milan Willow Run at River Rouge Napoleon at Manchester

FRIDAY Father Gabriel Richard at Riverview Gabriel Richard, 7:30 p.m. Whitmore Lake at Britton-Deerfield Holt Lutheran at Rudolf Steiner, 6 p.m. Calvary Christian at Washtenaw Christian, 6 p.m.