Fresh off its biggest nondistrict win of the season, Hamilton Christian is facing a week of showdowns with fellow challengers for the District 4-1A championship this week, starting with a home game against Grand Lake tonight.

The Warriors travel to face defending champion Elton Friday night. All three teams are undefeated in league play.

Hamilton (15-6, 3-0) beat perennial state power Lafayette Christian Saturday. Grand Lake (16-2, 3-0) enters on a nine-game winning streak, which includes five wins by single digits, the most dramatic coming on a Blayne Copper buzzer-beating 3-pointer to beat Church Point.

Hornets head coach Mark Caldwell said his young team is focused on improvement each day.

“We only have one kid who played much last year, so our big focus has been on skill development,” he said. “We spend an hour every day on passing, shooting and ball-handling. Our goal is for the guys to get a little bit better every day. I’m impressed with the progress they’ve made so far.”

The Hornets start two freshmen. Caldwell said some of the close wins are a result of inexperience.

“A few of those games, we were up by more than what the final was and had a hard time closing the game out,” he said. “But overall they guys have done a great job of finding a way to pull games out at the end, done a good job of making plays at the right time.”

Copper leads the Hornets offense.

“He is a bigger kid at 6-2 and can score at all three levels,” Caldwell said. “He can get to the basket, has a nice pull-up and can shoot the three. He’s a guard that rebounds well, getting eight per game.”

Hamilton head coach Dexter Washington said defense has fueled his team’s 10-game winning streak.

“We’re getting back to how we were 6-7 years ago when we wouldn’t let people score 50 on us,” Washington said. “Against LCA we only allowed 14 in the first half. Everybody is accepting their role on the team. It’s not a one-man team.”

Washington knows the Warriors will have to be at their best against Grand Lake.

“Coach Caldwell has built a good culture there, built the program from the bottom up,” he said. “When you play a program like that you don’t need to watch film to know they are going to show up ready to play.

“It’s Grand Lake vs. Hamilton, which is always a good friendly rivalry.”