Prep basketball battling the elements

The series of storms that wreaked havoc across the state this past weekend also threw a wrench into the schedules of the Truckee and North Tahoe high basketball teams.

And this is after their schedules already had been altered due to inclement weather during the past month.

“I purposely did not schedule games on Christmas Break to give the kids a rest, but now what’s happening is that the two-week break is turning into almost four,” said North Tahoe girls coach Scott Conn, whose team has had three consecutive games postponed.

Most recently, the Lakers, both boys and girls, were forced to postpone their home games against Portola on Tuesday night. Conn was optimistic that the games would be made up today (Wednesday) at the normally scheduled times — 6 and 7:30 p.m.



Before that, stormy weather postponed the Lakers’ league openers against Silver Stage this past Friday and their away games against Pershing County on Saturday.

The last time the Lakers played was against Incline on Dec. 18.

“It’s very frustrating as a player and a coach to work so hard to get in shape and look at the scouting report and get ready for a team, and then you just can’t do it,” Conn said Tuesday afternoon before holding a “crash get-in-shape course” with his team. “We’re almost back to the preseason as far as getting the rust off, so it’s hurt us tremendously.”

Mike Williams, head coach of the Laker boys, echoed Conn’s concern.

“It’s been hard to keep focused. We’ve been trying to duplicate game intensity situations in practice, but with the holidays and missing players, its been tough,” he said.

Truckee’s boys have been affected most by the weather, as the Wolverines’ past four games — dating back to a scheduled home contest against Loyalton on Dec. 18 — have been canceled or postponed. The last time they played was Dec. 14 against Wooster.

The lack of competition is wearing on them, Truckee coach Steve Ames said.

“They’re getting tired of looking at each other,” Ames said of his players. “But I did bring in some alumni kids to play a game against them during the break.”

With only 10 players on the Truckee roster, Ames is concerned about the Wolverines having to squeeze four games into a week to make up for the ones postponed. He’s also unsure how the extended break will affect his players’ conditioning and game-readiness.

“It’s one of those things where you don’t know if it’s helping you or hurting you, having the extra practice time,” he said. “I know you have to play the games to really get into good basketball shape.”



As of Tuesday evening, Ames was confident that Truckee’s next opponent, Incline, would still be visiting today (Wednesday) for a league game at 7:30 p.m. — girls at 6 p.m.

“As long as they have school, I’m expecting them to come,” he said of the Highlanders.

Truckee’s girls, who struggled through injuries and sickness much of the past month, are the one team that may have benefited from the weather.

“The time off actually helped us get healthy, so it was kind of good,” said Truckee coach Angelo Tenorio, whose team has lost three games to postponement and last played on Dec. 28.

But while the time off allowed Truckee players to mend, Tenorio said he was disappointed that the Wolverines could not play their league opener against Yerington on Friday, as well as a league game at Dayton on Saturday.

“It affects us as far as trying to get ready, both mentally and physically, for (Yerington and Dayton),” he said. “They’re the two best teams in our league, and we were ready for them, so it was kind of a downer.”

Both Tenorio and Ames were unsure when this past weekend’s games will be made up.