It’s already started, and we haven’t even reached the first night of high school basketball in Clark County.
What am I talking about, you ask?
Winter sports postponements.
It’s an odd development because Tuesday marks the first night for high school basketball in Clark County. And Clark County didn’t see much in the way of snow from last week’s winter threat.
However, other parts of the state were not as fortunate (or they were more fortunate, depending on your opinion of snow).
Take Lakes High School of Lakewood, for example. On Nov. 15, the Lancers began preparations for the upcoming basketball season, as that is the first day that teams can practice according to WIAA rules.
On Nov. 16, school was canceled at Lakes because a wind storm had knocked out power at the school.
Then last week, before school broke for the Thanksgiving holiday, a snow storm hit the Puget Sound area, leading to more canceled days of school.
WIAA rules require that teams have 10 days of practices before their season opener. And with all of these missed days of school, the Lancers will not have had enough practice days before their scheduled girls season opener on Wednesday at Prairie.
So the non-league game against the Falcons has been postponed. No word yet on when — or even if — the game will be rescheduled for a later date.
The Prairie girls will have to wait to open their season now on Dec. 6, when the Falcons face Skyview.
But it could be much worse.
There were six high school football teams that had state semifinal games on Saturday postponed because of snow.
The WIAA announced on Friday that two state semifinals games slated for Saturday at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane were postponed because of heavy snow accumulation on the field.
So the 4A semifinal between Ferris of Spokane and Bellarmine Prep of Tacoma will be played at 5 p.m. today at the Tacoma Dome. The 2A semifinal between East Valley of Spokane and Tumwater will be played at 2 p.m. today at the Tacoma Dome.
That means the winner of those semifinal games will have to play a Monday semifinal and then a Saturday championship game.
Also, the Class 2B semifinal between Colfax and Waitsburg-Prescott, which was scheduled for Saturday at Martin Stadium in Pullman, also was postponed because of dangerous road conditions. That game has been rescheduled to 5 p.m. today in Pullman.
Because the 2B championship game was originally scheduled for Friday at the Tacoma Dome, the WIAA moved the 2B championship game to Saturday, and moved up the 1B title game to Friday.
Thankfully, the 1B semifinal between Cusick and Almira-Coulee-Hartline was able to be played in Cheney on Saturday, with Cusick winning 36-28. And the two games played at Lampson Stadium in Kennewick also were played, so the 3A and 1A title games are set.
Basketball schedules
Different leagues are taking different approaches to their basketball schedules this winter.
In 4A Greater St. Helens League, schools have decided to go with girls/boys doubleheaders on most nights, with girls games tipping off at 5:30 p.m., followed by the boys games.
That means most of the 4A GSHL basketball schedule will be played on Tuesday and Friday nights this season.
We say most, because Skyview is the only school in the league that is not following this format. When Skyview hosts league games, the girls will play on Monday and Thursday and the boys will play Tuesday and Friday — for the most part. All Skyview home games will start at 7 p.m., with the lone exception of Feb. 7 games with Evergreen.
As for the other area leagues, most 3A and 2A GSHL teams will play boys and girls games on different days of the week — with a few exceptions. The 1A Trico League will have some girls/boys doubleheaders during the season, but that has been the practice in that league for the past few years to help reduce travel costs.
To take a look at team-by-team league schedules for the 4A, 3A and 2A GSHL, as well as the 1A Trico League team teams, go to The Columbian’s prep sports web page at www.360preps.com, then click on the league links under “league standings” header. Standings and results will be updated as they are reported to us.
Tim Martinez is the assistant sports editor/prep sports coordinator for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-735-4538 or e-mail at tim.martinez@columbian.com
