Palatine, Ill-The Harper College men's and women's basketball teams are set to begin North Central Community College Conference (N4C) play on Jan. 4 with home tilts against Wilbur Wright Community College. The women will start the night with a 5pm tip, followed by the men at 7pm.

The women currently hold a 2-8 record, but are coming off their most dominant performance of season with a 73-58 win against Elgin Community College. Hawks forward, Tamara Zivak (/Barrington), led the charge recording 34 points (14-17 FG's) and 13 rebounds. Harper guard, Angelina Villasin (/Prospect), also had a huge effort scoring 27 points and tallying eight assists agains the Spartans. If the Hawks hope to continue their success into 2017 they will rely heavily on Zivak and Villasin.

The Wright College Rams are currently winless on the season (0-10). Jieve Morris comes in averaging a little less than 15 ppg.

The Harper men are 5-11 on the season, but have won three out of their last five games including avenging an earlier loss against College of Lake County. Leading the Hawks in scoring through 13 games is freshman Joey Gatziolis at 14 ppg. Isaiah Butler (/Elgin) and Brent Cooks (/Larkin), two mid-season additions, look to make a big impact for Harper. In the last game before break, Cooks and Butler combined for 43 of the Hawks 82 points.

The Rams come into 2017 winless at 0-13. They are led in scoring by London Cobbs at 16.9 ppg.

Currently, Harper is set to face off against three NJCAA ranked opponents in 2017. N4C foes Joliet, Rock Valley, and Triton all appear in the rankings. Joliet is currently ranked 7^th in the NJCAA Div.III poll followed closely by Rock Valley at 9^th. Triton is currently ranked 5^th in the NJCAA Div.II polls.