Coaches in most any sport don’t sign up for the sort of week that faced Prairie View HIgh School’s girls basketball team the week of Jan. 16.
A snowstorm? Sure. It’s part of the …
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A snowstorm? Sure. It’s part of the routine of winter sports. A snow day and a resulting lack of practice/games? That’s part of the routine – on occasion – too.
But PVHS coach Sam Mackall wasn’t about to let his players drive over ice and snow to practice until the roads were safer. Result? PVHS’ first encounter with a gym floor was a Northern League contest against Fort Collins Jan. 20.
The Lambkins rode a 17-point performance from Avery Alcaraz to a 51-23 win over the T-Hawks. Alcaraz scored 14 of those points in the first quarter. Jocelyn Kramer scored 10. PVHS’ top scorers were Hannah Deshazer and Celicia Robles, who scored 10 points. Robles scored the last eight points of the game for PVHS.
“With everything we had, we hadn’t been in the gym all week,” Mackall said. “The girls got gassed. We tried to rotate some of our JV girls in. I was happy with the performance against a team that has done some good things against other teams. Right now, with not practicing, I’m not too upset.”
Early on, the Lambkins didn’t score a lot of points off PVHS mistakes. That wasn’t the only thing that pleased the coach.
“We called some good defense, and they shut them down for almost three minutes, and it was against their starting team,” Mackall said. “We scored five points in that stretch. I was happy with that stretch. They (Fort Collins) have really good ball movement, and it showed some of our weaknesses, too. Overall, coach is happy.”
On top of a week’s worth of weather issues, PVHS doesn’t have a long bench.
“We actually have only six on varsity,” Mackall said. “It’s a double-edged sword. But we have to train the younger ones for next year, too.”
PVHS hits the road for a game against Mountain Range Thursday, Jan. 26, Tip time is 7 p.m.
“We haven’t done bad against certain teams. We’re still trying to grind down. The girls we have are big on books and classes,” Mackall said. “These are my girls. I treat them as my daughters. I don’t want them driving on black ice. It would hurt my heart if one of them got hurt driving to practice at 5 a.m.”
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